Fate's Prisoners
by Kage
Summary: It's been over a decade since I last looked at this. I've lost my working copy of it between moves and can't remember how I intended for it to end. As a result, for all intents and purposes, Fate's Prisoners has been imprisoned by a very bad fate indeed: Utter death. Thank you to all who viewed, reviewed, favorited, and/or followed! -K, 11/07/2012
1. No Mercy

Chapter One

Chapter One

No Mercy

_I…_

_ _

_Who am I…?_

_ _

Who am…are…

_What…_

_ _

_What am…I…?_

_ _

_And…where is this place?_

_ _

_So…so warm…quiet…_

_ _

No…

Light!

_ _

***

_ _

Tifa Lockheart grabbed the slender girl's hand once more as the willowy frame shook with barely restrained screams of pain. She bowed her head, urging the girl in a hoarse, strained voice.

"Just a little longer, Amé, that's all…Just a little longer…" 

Amé wailed and collapsed, dark brown eyes filming over with exhaustion and oncoming doom. Tifa swiftly grabbed the baby and wrapped it in a blanket to prevent a premature illness, soothing the tiny boy's frantic squeaks of hysteria. She practically shoved the child against his dying mother's breast, forcefully gathering the girl's limp arms and hands to the bundle and firmly holding the waxy limbs to the baby. All this resulted in more shrieks of terror from the newborn and Amé just barely opening her eyes, staring half-blindly down at the tiny life she had bore onto the Planet, tiny fists clenched into balls and eyes screwed shut as tears ran into its open mouth.

"I…" Amé's voice was faint and raspy. Tifa leaned closer to hear her.

"What is it, Amé?" 

Amé made a visible effort, bringing her eyes up to stare squarely into Tifa's. "I don't…want…him…"

Tifa nearly slapped the half-dead girl in the face. "What do you mean, you don't want him?! Look at him, Amé! Look!" She raised the baby up, putting the round face into Amé's weakening eyesight. "He's your son!" Tifa felt tears of helpless outrage run down her face, joining with the baby's soulful cries. _Oh, you poor child, she thought to both Amé and her baby. __You poor, poor child…_

_ _

Amé fell back, closing her eyes and stiffening almost instantly as the Planet brought her to the Lifestream.

With a moan of despair, Tifa held both children to her, knowing why Amé hadn't wanted her misbegotten boy, and knowing, all the while…

_It's my fault…_

_ _

***

"Tifa?" Cloud Strife knocked on the room's door, listening inside for a response. When there was none, he shifted the kettle of hot water and basket of towels to his other arm, gently cracking the door open to peer inside.

Tifa's long, silky brown hair faced him as she knelt on the room's floor, rocking back and forth on her heels and murmuring under her breath. On the bed in front of her was a white sheet covering something that Cloud immediately knew what it was. He took a cautious step into the room, placing his burden onto the floor next to the door and inching forward. "Tifa? What…what happened?"

Tifa didn't seem to have heard him at first, but she stopped rocking a moment later and kept perfectly still. "C-Cloud?"

"Tifa?" Cloud repeated, confusion in his voice.

The young woman's frame abruptly began to shake. Cloud darted forward, grabbing hold of Tifa's shoulders and facing directly to her. Distinct tears were falling from her brown eyes, forming in each corner and then sliding down onto the object in her lap. Cloud looked down involuntarily and was immediately faced with the slumbering, innocent face of a newborn baby, Tifa's tears dripping, ignored, onto the downy yellow blanket that covered its vulnerable body. 

"Oh, Tifa…"

"Cloud," Tifa whispered, gulping back nearly hysterical tears and tone of voice. "I…I couldn't…I couldn't save her…"

Cloud's heart grieved for the teenaged girl who lay dead on the bed behind him, but he carefully schooled his face down. "That was…Amé, wasn't it?"

Tifa nodded miserably. "She…"

"She was like my little sister," Cloud said, closing his aqua-blue eyes. "And…"

"Cloud, she told me…" Tifa gently cradled the little baby to her. "She told me, before she died, that she didn't want him. Her own baby."

Cloud shook his head slowly, staring down at the little boy. "Amé…never wanted to have a kid. It wasn't…her fault…or yours, Tifa."

"It was my fault," Tifa sobbed. "It was my fault, Cloud, all my fault…"

"Shh." Cloud held Tifa to him, careful not to crush the sleeping infant between them. "Shh…it wasn't anyone's fault…"

***

_"Amé, can you take a quick trip to Turtle's Paradise?"_

_ _

_"Okay, Tifa!" Amé waved cheerfully, picking up the hem of her cotton kimono and a basket._

_ _

_"Careful, kiddo," Cloud warned her on her way out. "Even in Wutai, you never know what's around the corner!"_

_ _

_Amé made a face at Cloud. "I know!" She ran out of the door, closing it roughly behind her._

_ _

_Yuffie Kisaragi slumped up the stairs of her underground training room, yawning visibly. "I dunno why I let you two stay here," she slurred as she fell over onto the table Tifa had set up. "Inviting weird strangers an' all that…"_

_ _

_"Amé's not a 'weird stranger,' " Tifa said reproachfully as she poured Yuffie a cup of strong tea. _

_ _

_"Besides," Cloud added disapprovingly, "who would be taking care of you during your hangovers? I swear, Yuffie, if you don't stop drinking every night…"_

_ _

_"What? Drinking's good for yer heart," Yuffie responded, poking at her teacup. She rested her chin on her hands and her elbows on the tabletop, staring down into the brown liquid. "Oh, hey…you didn't filter out the tea stems real good, Tifa."_

_ _

"Oops," Tifa muttered, peering into the teacup. Sure enough, there was a single tea stalk floating straight up inside of it. "I'll get it out…"

"Aw, don't sweat it," Yuffie growled, waving Tifa's hand away. "I heard that it's supposed to mean good luck." With that last comment, she slumped straight over, face just barely missing the "good luck" tea and hitting the table while her arms hung limply over the sides. A loud snore emitted from her as she immediately shifted deeply into her hangover snooze at full force.

_Cloud winced. "I wish she didn't do that every morning."_

_ _

_"She's…had it pretty rough," Tifa commented as she rescued Yuffie's teacup from accidental spillage. Almost immediately, Yuffie hand twitched into the area that the cup formerly sat on and rested there. "I mean, Godo's been pressing her to start taking things more seriously now. She's only sixteen, Cloud, and she'll only be seventeen four months from now. She still sees life—and the world—as a big bouncing ball, ready to play with."_

_ _

Cloud snorted. "Amé just turned sixteen, and she acts more mature than Yuffie." He glanced at the tea Tifa still held in her hand. "Say, is that tea really supposed to mean good luck?"

_Tifa shrugged. "Darned if I know. It might just be one more of Yuffie's made up myths."_

_ _

_"Yeah, knowing her," Cloud agreed, taking the cup of tea from Tifa's hand and downing it in one gulp. He immediately made a face and picked the tea stalk off of his tongue. "Good luck has its drawbacks, I suppose."_

_ _

_Tifa laughed before turning her attention to Yuffie. The teenaged ninja was still slumped over at the table, unconscious and dead to the world. "Yuffie! Wake up!"_

_ _

_"…Five more minutes, mom…" Yuffie replied sleepily._

_ _

_Cloud lost his smile for a minute. "Poor kid. I almost forgot that she never knew her mother…"_

_ _

_Tifa began to say something right when an ear-piercing scream filled the air. Her head jerked up as a fervent curse in the Wutai language rang out, followed by more screams and a high, piercing wail of fright. Cloud went flying out the door, even forgetting his sword that hung in the back of the room in his haste. Tifa followed, dismissing Yuffie and her frequent hangovers from her mind. Who would be making such a racket this early in the morning?_

_ _

_"Cloud-san!" a young girl cried out, beckoning frantically. "Over here!"_

_ _

_Cloud ran over as quickly as his legs would take him. "What is it?" he demanded._

_ _

_"Cloud-san, it's…it's Amé-chan! She…she was…"_

_ _

_Cloud swore and pushed his way through the crowd to the orphaned girl he had "adopted" as a little sister. She lay on the ground in an alley behind Turtle Paradise, bruises covering her pale throat and just barely breathing. He knelt beside her, gathering her in his arms. "Who did this?!" he demanded of the people._

_ _

_"We do not know, Cloud-san," the same girl apologized. "Whoever it was escaped before we found her."_

_ _

_"Oh!" Tifa arrived, clasping her hands over her mouth. "Amé!"_

_ _

_"She's been hurt badly," Cloud gasped out as he cradled the slight girl like a baby. "I don't know what happened…"_

_ _

_"This way!" Tifa led Cloud out of the group and into Yuffie's house, where the ninja was still sprawled over the tabletop. They set Amé on the futon in the back of the room that Yuffie usually used, except with her nightly drinking habit she never inhabited it anymore._

_ _

_Amé whimpered and coughed slightly, whispering something under her breath and opening her eyes slightly. Cloud leaned over her, concerned, and gently touched her forehead to check to see if she had a temperature._

_ _

_Almost instantly, Amé cringed away from his touch, shrieking in terror as if Cloud had just attacked her. She seemed to recognize Tifa and feverishly grabbed the young woman's hands, sobbing hysterically._

_ _

_"What? What did I do?!" Cloud demanded confusedly. "Amé wouldn't…"_

_ _

_"She's traumatized inside and out," Tifa announced as she held the trembling girl. "But…that strong reaction…She's been living as your sister for a little less than half a year, but she's never reacted like that before!"_

_ _

_"It's as if…she's scared of me," Cloud whispered._

_ _

_"If I didn't know better…" Tifa ran her gentle fingers over the dark bruises on Amé's throat, careful to not cause the girl any more pain. "Cloud…" She looked up at him with troubled brown eyes._

_ _

_"What?" Cloud asked impatiently._

_ _

_"…I think Amé was…well…" Tifa swallowed. "Raped."_

_ _

_"WHAT?!"_

_ _

_"Why else would she react to a man's touch like that? She immediately went to one of her own gender for comfort, even though you're her only family! Those bruises…and her attitude…" Tifa trailed off._

_ _

_"No!" Cloud shook his head vehemently. "What sorry bastard would do that to Amé?!" He leaped to his feet, every line of his body intent on grabbing his Ultima Weapon. "I swear I'll find him and kill him if it's the last thing I do!"_

_ _

_"Cloud! You won't be able to find whoever did this; it's too late." Tifa put out a hand to restrain the young man. "The best thing to do…is to just let Amé rest."_

_ _

_Cloud sighed gustily and dropped to his knees, watching as Amé shook and let out hoarse, clipped sobs._

_ _

_"You're right, Tifa. But…I swear that I won't rest until I find that bastard and kill him."_

_ _

***

Tifa set the baby in his crib as gently as she could, watching as he snuggled up on his side. Faint patches of dark black hair, echoing Amé's own, shaded the boy's scalp. She sighed and sat down in a chair next to the crib, lowering her head in despair and sorrow for Amé.

_Oh, Amé, if only you knew how sorry I am…_

_ _

***

Cloud stared up at the starlit sky, deep blue eyes glaring hatefully up at the heavens.

"Why, you bastard?! Why do you always have to come back and haunt me?! Why does your ghost always have to take away everything I love?!"

_"Because…you are a puppet…"_

_ _

_The harsh, grating voice ran through his mind like sandpaper against rock. Cloud clenched his fists and fell to his knees, lowering his head._

"Damn you, Sephiroth. And damn your mother, too. I just know that you are somewhere at the root cause of all of this…"

The stars overhead, the same stars Cloud had looked up to as a small child living in a different place, glimmered knowingly at the blonde-haired man below, slumped over in defeat.

"…Damn you…"

[Go to Chapter Two][1]

[Return to Fanfiction][2]

   [1]: Chapter%202.htm
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	2. Dark Warrior

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Dark Warrior

Vincent Valentine, trapped forever in the body of a twenty-seven year old due to scientific tinkering upon his body, lurked alone in the grotto of his former love. While Cloud and Tifa had both moved as far away from Nibelheim as they could go, Vincent remained nearby. What those two regarded as memories waiting to strike like a poisonous snake, Vincent embraced, keeping himself alone and living his memories every single day of his life. Although Lucrecia's ghost had long since abandoned her grotto to finally rest in the Lifestream and move onto her next life, Vincent continued to occupy it in shadowy solitude. The villagers of Nibelheim, still hiding their secrets, remained oblivious to the fact that they had a neighbor living literally right over the mountains. 

And Vincent remained wreathed in the shadows of the past.

When he first heard the pitiful cry just barely over the dull roar of the waterfall, Vincent thought that he had been imagining things. But it came again, pricking at his sharp hearing like a needle constantly jabbing through taut cloth. He stood and pulled out his Death Penalty gun, padding towards the grotto's entrance like a shadow. With a quick sideways movement, he slid through the curtain of water and pointed his gun at the object outside.

It floated nearby the edge of the lake, a watertight rush basket with a white-wrapped bundle nestled in it. Checking around for anything else, Vincent slung his Death Penalty back into its holster and stepped into the shallow part of the water. He extended his right arm, reaching out and taking hold of the edge of the basket, tugging it slowly towards him. As soon as it was in front of him, he pulled his gun out again, pointed it at the bundle, and cautiously drew back the cloth with his mechanical left arm delicately pinching the fabric.

Had he not lived most of his life asleep in a coffin, Vincent would have dropped his jaw down in shock. As it was, he had forgotten how to show expressions on his face and kept it in its cool, contained mask of no emotion. Snuggling into the depths of the basket was a tiny child—a baby girl. One thumb was stuck at an odd angle in her mouth while her other hand curled up at her side. Her hair was barely noticeable, and at the moment was a light blonde. She was asleep and oblivious to her surroundings as well as her savior.

Vincent sighed mentally and put his gun away, knowing from past experience and years of self-training that this infant was of no threat to him. He carefully gathered up the child, basket and all, and raised it, dripping, from the water. When he turned and began to slosh out of the cool lake, the baby wrinkled her nose and immediately woke up as a spray of water hit her cheek.

The man froze instantly, unsure of what to do. The little girl opened her pale green eyes and stared up at Vincent, barely managing to focus on his slender face. When a lock of Vincent's long black hair fell from over his shoulders and swung in the baby's face, she giggled out loud and reached up, batting at it playfully like a kitten with a ball of yarn. Her tiny brow knit with concentration as she put out both hands, grabbing at the lock of hair and burbling with glee. Vincent winced as her surprisingly strong hands tugged hard and shifted the basket to his left arm, trying to separate his hair from the girl's grasp with his other hand. 

Once his hair had been freed, Vincent continued slogging out of the water, pants and a good bottom portion of his blood red cape soaked and dripping. The girl kept trying to snatch up the elusive strands of hair that flew temptingly over her head, each hair rising and falling as Vincent's head nodded in rhythm with his steps. She only stopped when he, too, stopped, standing nearby the waterfall that hid the entrance to Lucrecia's grotto. 

"How did you get here?" Vincent muttered, almost surprising himself with the sound of his own voice. He had lived in isolation for almost half a year and hadn't spoken out loud throughout the whole duration. After all, what was there for someone to speak to within an abandoned grotto?

The girl cooed and blinked sleepily up at Vincent in reply, chubby arms and hands waving sluggishly in the air.

"…And what do I do with you?" he continued, watching as the baby yawned hugely and dropped her eyelids over her strange eyes—the same pale green as the Lifestream, he noted in surprise, with its ever-shifting light green to aqua shades. Vincent resumed moving, keeping a steady pace so as not to wake the child. As he walked through the waterfall, he raised his cape and made a cave over the infant's head with it to shield her from the rushing water. His own head got the full brunt of the cold water, but he was used to it, whereas a tiny girl like this one wouldn't be. Moving to the stone steps in the back of the rounded grotto, he set down on them and set the basket with the baby still inside it on the ground, intent on wringing out his hair and cape.

Immediately, the child's eyes flew open in surprise. She let out the loudest, highest-pitched wail Vincent had ever heard in his entire life. Surprised, Vincent swept the basket back up on his lap and peered down at the squalling girl, trying to figure out what was wrong.

As if he had just unplugged her power cord, the loud scream cut short and Vincent was faced with the sleepy-eyed, albeit tear-streaked baby once more. Curious, Vincent made as if to set the basket back down on the ground, freezing when her face screwed itself up in fair warning.

"Point taken," he murmured, settling on his side with the baby still tucked in her basket beside him. He propped his head up on an elbow and dangled his mechanical claw of a left hand over the basket's edge, keeping the sharp tips that had seen more than their fair share of blood turned away from the neonate's grabby fingers. Fascinated by the shiny new object, the girl stared at it entrancingly until she fell asleep. With her head tilted to the side and her hands tucked under her chin, she looked like a tiny angel.

"You remind me of someone," Vincent mused out loud as he watched the babe pull in deep breaths of air. "But who it is…I don't know. Someone I knew before…" He withdrew his claw and lay completely on his side, keeping the basket tilted partially towards him so that he could keep an eye on its contents. "Who are you and where did you come from, anyway?"

The baby gave no reply.

***

When he woke up, Vincent opened one eye first out of pure habit in order to survey his surroundings for attackers. 

_Don't be stupid, Vincent Valentine, he chided himself. __How can anyone attack you in here?_

_ _

The first thing he saw out of that crimson eye was an empty rush-woven basket, save for a tangle of white cloth that spilled out of it. Other than that, everything was perfectly normal—

_What the…the kid! _

Jolting upright, Vincent looked around frantically to find the girl sitting nearby, examining his Death Penalty with curious interest. Stifling a harsh comment, he rose and plucked the firearm out of the baby's hands, tucking it back into its holster. Then he gingerly picked the child up, holding her cautiously in his arms.

"Look, kid, _that is a big no-no," he told her firmly, feeling silly in every aspect. This was how he had seen parents disciplining their children back when he had still been a Turk, though, and they were the only role models he had. His own parents he couldn't even remember, due to the many years he had remained suspended in the basement of the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim. "Never, ever touch this" he waved the gun in her face for a brief moment before putting it away, "again. No." Vincent shook his head at her and followed it up by a negative motion of his finger._

The girl made her bubbly little baby noise, cocking her head to one side.

"No. No. Bad. No," Vincent repeated.

Her face fell and she cast her eyes to the ground, the very image of a truly repentant child.

_Do most children act like this at such an early age? Vincent wondered. __She's pretty smart…_

_ _

_The girl glanced cautiously up at him from beneath her eyelashes as if trying to see if there was any pity in his red eyes. Unable to see very well in her position, she tilted her head all the way up, then apparently changed her mind and grabbed at his hair instead, tugging it happily._

"Don't start that again," Vincent groaned, finding himself once more locked in a tug-of-war that involved his own hair as a rope. "Kid, when you grow enough hair, you can pull it all you want. And believe me, I—and my scalp—will be completely relieved when that happens." He finally undid her grip and held her cradled to his side, keeping her arms out of reach of his hair. "I think I have to give you a name if I'm going to keep you, which I most probably am going to do," he continued as the girl gazed up at him. "The problem is, I don't know what to name you."

She smiled angelically, a motion that immediately brought Vincent to the past once again. Her eyes deepened to a laughing emerald green, long, brown hair tumbled from her scalp, and her face smoothed out into that of an innocent whose life was cut tragically short.

"Aeris," he breathed gently. "That's who you remind me of, for some reason. Aeris."

Vincent had never bothered to even try to get to know Aeris very well and had not even mourned her death. And yet he could still remember the bright, innocent spark within her that was heightened with her sparkling green eyes. It was the same kind of spirit that the child he held in his arms possessed deep within her fragile body.

"So…I suppose your name is going to be Aeris from now on."

Aeris smiled gently, a slow spread of her lips that once more reminded Vincent of the baby's namesake, and then she fell asleep once again.

[Go to Chapter Three][1]

[Return to Fanfiction][2]

   [1]: Chapter%203.htm
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	3. One Year Later, Six Years Older

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

One Year Later, Six Years Older

Tifa knocked gently on the door to Zeno's room, shifting the bundle of blankets that was piled almost as high as her head in her arms from one side to the other as she waited for the boy hidden within to answer. Soon, the door creaked open and Tifa stepped forward, feeling with her feet to make sure that she didn't crash into anything.

"Zeno, you didn't mess up your room already, didn't you?" she asked, sliding forward and extending a foot to reach for Zeno's bed.

"Aunt Tifa…uh, look out." A quick, slender shadow moved in her peripheral vision, slipping in front of her with a slight breath of wind in its wake. There was a fumbling noise, followed by the shadow's next sentence. "Okay, you can go, now."

"I thought you just got in here," Tifa mumbled into the pile of blankets, moving forward once more.

"I did, Aunt. I just suddenly had the urge to work on something…"

"Ah. I see." Tifa's searching foot finally encountered the edge of Zeno's bed. She immediately knelt and dropped her pile of blankets onto it, sighing in relief as the layers of cotton left her face. She perked up at a noise behind her, turning around to see Cloud and Yuffie following, each carrying hampers full of various paraphernalia.

"Hi, Uncle Cloud," the shadow, now identified as a young, six-year-old boy, said. He brushed back his glossy black hair that was quite long for a child his age and looked up at his "uncle" with dark eyes. "Hi, Yuffie."

"Yo, kid," Yuffie grunted by means of greeting, depositing her load onto the floor. She let out a breath of air, lifting her brown bangs that were stuck to her forehead with sweat. "Okay, that's the last of it. Hey, kid, you sure have a lot of junk for a little one-year-old."

"Six," Zeno corrected her automatically. "I know how old I am."

Cloud laughed forcedly, the strained tone unnoticed by Zeno but picked up on by both Tifa and Yuffie. "You better get settled down here, kid. We have to go unpack in our rooms. We'll call you down when dinner's ready, okay?"

Zeno nodded. "All right, Uncle." He turned to his stack of crates, ready to unload. Cloud and the others left as quietly as they could, closing the door firmly and walking down the hallway to Cloud's new room.

"All I can say is, it's a good thing you guys finally decided to pick up residence in a different house," Yuffie grumbled in her usual, I-just-got-over-my-hangover attitude. "Mine was getting pretty damn crowded."

Cloud cast a silencing look at her. "Yuffie, in case you haven't noticed, there's something strange about Zeno."

"Oh, yeah? _No way! I couldn't tell! I mean, he was only born a year ago and he currently looks like a six year old kid," Yuffie replied sarcastically. She threw her hands into the air, rolling her eyes along with that motion. "Jeez, you'd think that you assume I'm totally blind. Just because I drink occasionally doesn't mean a th—"_

"Yuffie, we're on a different topic," Cloud reminded her impatiently. He rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, as if someone had just breathed on the fine hairs that ran over there. "Zeno isn't a regular kid. I love him as if he was my own son, but…the way he's growing just isn't normal. I don't know how to explain it, though."

Yuffie nodded, sobering. "I know. It's pretty unsettling, isn't it?"

"It's more than unsettling, it's eerie," Tifa put in, clasping her hands behind her back in an unconscious gesture. "He ages at an unusually fast pace—let's say about six years to one normal year for us—and his mind accelerates just as quickly; maybe a little quicker. At this rate, he'll be dead before Cloud is thirty!"

Cloud shook his head. "We can't think that way right now, Tifa. And right now, there's nothing that we can do. We'll just have to wait and see what happens…"

***

_Three years later…_

_ _

_"Happy birthday!"_

The lights flicked on, revealing a crowd of people surrounding a table that was bordered by cups, plates, napkins, and utensils. In the center of the table was a round cake covered with light green icing lit up by twenty-five candles whose flames flickered from the shouts of the people around it. Written on the cake in white icing were the words: 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

CLOUD-SAN!

Cloud laughed ruefully as he stared down at the candle-covered cake top, scratching the back of his head in a common gesture of speechlessness. "My God, you people have a way of making a guy feel old," he admitted as Tifa sidled over to him, slipping a paper crown on a lopsided tilt over the spikes from his hair. 

"Hurry up and make a birthday wish, Cloud," Tifa advised, laughing at how silly Cloud looked with that crown on his head. The offending article, crafted by an expert origami creator, was made of shiny golden paper and, with the tilt added to it, made Cloud look like a drunken angel of some sort with a halo that had fallen off of its perch. "You're probably going to have to take some really deep breaths for this one!"

"Look who's talking," Cloud jabbed back. "In a year, this is going to be you, Tifa. Enjoy it while you can, because _I'm going to be the one laughing at __you when it's your turn!"_

"Oh, but I am," Tifa replied innocently, spoiling the effect by pulling a moue at him. 

"Well, I'm not," Yuffie groused. "What a lousy party! There aren't any decent drinks around here!"

"I think that it's fair for you to remain sober for Cloud's birthday," Tifa returned evenly. "Consider it your birthday gift to him."

"Oh, hey, really?" Yuffie perked up visibly. "In that case, I don't have to worry, 'cause I don't have a present for him anyway!"

Now it was Cloud's turn to make a face, sticking his tongue out in an uncharacteristically youthful gesture. "Figures," he mock-growled at her. "I should have known that you, of all people, would give me such a touching gift!"

"Hey, at least I actually gave you something," Yuffie shot back huffily as the other party members laughed at her pouting expression.

"Right. _Something. Thanks," Cloud muttered._

"Hey, where's Zeno?" Tifa cut in, dissuading any more argument from the irate ninja. 

"Oh, the kid's probably hanging around the stream again," Yuffie said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Hurry up and cut the darned cake already. I'm starving, there's nothing to drink here, and the party's going do-o-o-o-own!"

"Here, Cloud," Tifa whispered into Cloud's ear, ignoring the spike of hair that tickled at her upper lip. She thrust the cutting knife into his hand, earning a yelp of surprise as the knife's edge sliced the palm of his glove open, luckily without drawing any blood. "I'll go get Zeno." She turned and disappeared out of the door before Cloud or anyone else could say anything.

***

Running through the middle of Wutai was a freshwater stream, which was lucky for the town's inhabitants since they lived nearby the ocean and freshwater was usually hard to come by in an area like the one Wutai sat in. Connecting sections of Wutai were short walkways and red, arching bridges that branched over the lazily shifting waters of the stream. On hot days, children often sat on the bridges and paths, dangling their feet into the water and teasing the mottled _koi fish that often came up to nibble at their toes. It was said by the seniors of Wutai that the precious waters could reveal the true inner spirit of the person who looked upon their reflection in the glass-like surface. Most often, teenagers emerging into the unsteady years of life would peer into the stream to see if what the elders said was true and to possibly glimpse a vision of their future._

Every citizen of Wutai was off celebrating the twenty-fifth birthday of their most honored member, the man who had saved the Planet from destruction. As such, the town was currently practically empty save for one figure that sat on a graceful red bridge's curve, staring hypnotically into the water.

Tifa spied him immediately and walked over, keeping her eyes fixed on his back. She reached him and sat down next to him, tucking her long, loosely tied brown hair over her shoulder.

"Zeno?" she asked, reaching out with a hand to tentatively touch the person's shoulder.

Zeno raised his face from the water and tilted it towards Tifa. In ways that had become increasingly more obvious as Zeno grew rapidly over the four short years he had been alive, he resembled some figure from the past whom no one except for Cloud could put a finger on and remember. Cloud, however, chose to ignore this and kept it a secret, even when Tifa asked him if he knew who it was. His face was unusually pale and aristocratic, finely boned and almost delicate in structure. Hair that was as dark as the true shade of midnight cascaded over his shoulders, touching the bridge even when he straightened up in his sitting position. A pair of long bangs constantly fell in his face, a distraction that most would find annoying but Zeno ignored. The only things that kept Zeno from being mistaken for a girl were his unmistakably masculine build and his piercing, predator-like pure black eyes that were so deep in shade and intensity that people often found themselves drowning in them. Once he had those unsettling orbs focused on someone, it was not unusual for that target to leave the room. If they had actually dared to meet the gaze of this proud, serious stranger, they would have had to find a seat to support their weakening legs at the very least. It also was not very unusual for a weak-spirited being to faint from sheer terror and awe.

_He doesn't look like Amé at all, Tifa thought fleetingly. __Just the hair, and nothing more. The child always did have such beautiful hair…_

_ _

_Once more, Tifa was drawn to the past for a brief moment, a past that was buried in the back of her mind. She remembered and wondered again at how a child of four could look, act, and think like a twenty-four-year-old—the same age as herself._

"Aunt Tifa?" Zeno questioned in a smooth, velvety voice anyone would kill to have. All of this plus his "_bishonen," or "pretty boy"—as the people of Wutai called it—looks packaged into one was almost too much for the young girls of Wutai to bear, never mind the fact that he had been an infant four years ago. They were constantly throwing themselves at him, and probably would do so literally if his penetrating eyes and cold aura didn't persuade them otherwise._

_"Zeno, is something wrong?" Tifa asked quietly. "The others are waiting for your arrival."_

Zeno snorted softly, half to himself, turning his eyes back towards the shimmering water below his swinging feet. "I don't know. I'm not really in the mood to have those girls giggle at me right now."

Tifa laughed. "I don't blame you," she chuckled. "Of course, were you not my nephew, I'd probably be joining them as well."

Zeno gave her a slightly surprised look with one black eyebrow arching over an emerald eye. "Aunt Tifa!" He responded reproachfully.

Tifa laughed again at his look, elegantly crossing one leg over the other as they hung over the edge of the bridge. "I don't suppose you've looked in the mirror lately, kid," she teased, using Cloud's nickname for Zeno.

Zeno's mouth twitched for an instant before he reverted back to his serious, contemplating self. "I don't know, Aunt Tifa. I just don't feel like I belong here. I feel like…someone, somewhere, is calling me to them, and I have to heed their call someday."

Tifa stopped laughing and stared seriously at Zeno's profile. "Really?"

Zeno nodded in confirmation. "I don't suppose you think it's not that silly?"

Tifa shook her head slowly. "No, Zeno. I think Cloud felt like that at one point in his life. He always, always felt like he didn't belong in his hometown—Nibelheim—even though his only family, his mother, was there. So…he left to join the elite military group, SOLDIER, when he was about fourteen or so."

_I can still remember that night, Tifa thought to herself. __That night on Nibelheim's well…and his promise to me…_

_ _

_"…Whenever I'm in trouble…my hero will come and rescue me…"_

_ _

_"…All right. I promise…I'll come…"_

_ _

_Oh, Cloud, you've kept your promise…but I wish it could go into something more…_

_ _

_"Maybe that's what I need to do," Zeno muttered, interrupting Tifa's thoughts. She glanced up at him in surprise to see if he was joking, but his face was perfectly straight and serious. "Maybe I need to go join a fight somewhere…"_

"Zeno, don't talk like that!" Tifa grabbed Zeno's hand frantically. "You…you're the last memory of your mother that Cloud…that we have. If you left…I don't know what Cloud or I would do. I mean…" she swallowed. "Just don't leave us, Zeno. We all love you very much, even Yuffie. Don't ever leave us alone."

Startled by Tifa's sudden display of emotion, Zeno stared down at her before nodding slowly. "All right. I promise…"

***

Tifa left soon after Zeno had made his promise and his second promise to join the party soon. He ran a hand through his hair from scalp to tip, unconsciously undoing any tangles his hand-comb found. Finally, he stopped and rested his chin in the palm of one hand and his elbows on his thighs, staring at the reflection of himself in the water.

He had stopped growing.

Of course the others wouldn't notice it yet; by their calculations, he was exactly twenty-four right now and would age another six years within the next year of their life. What they didn't know and what he had noticed was that he had just suddenly stopped growing and aging as soon as he had hit twenty-four. His mind, sharp and in its prime, absorbed information much like how a sponge did water and his physical appearance remained as a twenty-four-year-old. But he knew, subconsciously, that he wasn't going to get any older externally, internally, emotionally, and so on, with the exception of his thoughts that would age as they learned more about this strange new world. 

_So what happens to me then? He thought reflectively, absently picking up a pebble that sat nearby him. __Do I just stay the way I am forever or do I just drop dead when I'm seventy? What happens?_

_ _

_Zeno dropped the pebble into the silvery water and watched as a school of __koi, fat and greedy from the free feeding they received from children and adults alike, swarmed at the ripple that had been created. To their simple minds, that ripple always meant food. This time, however, no matter how hard they searched, there was no tasty morsel to fight over—only the tiny pebbles and whatnot studding the floor of their underwater home. Disconcerted, the __koi all swam away, looks of frank confusion and disappointment clouding their bright black eyes._

_What am I doing? Zeno wondered, dropping his hands to his lap. __Why do I just wait here? Am I, too, waiting for some crumb to drop to me, some little bit of food that will supply for my hunger for knowledge? What happens?_

_ _

_Staring intently into the water surface at the sulking __koi browsing below, Zeno skimmed over his own reflection numerous times before he saw something that hadn't been there before. His deep black eyes widening in surprise, he leaned forward and stared at his reflection._

Hovering above his head was the faint outline of a beautiful young girl a few years his junior. Her hair was a long, chestnut brown braided back away from her angelic face. Tendrils of escaped hair with two predominant bangs curled around large, innocent emerald eyes, almost like his own except they were slightly lighter in color and held a look of permanent amusement in them. Amusement, it seemed, that was expressed at the world in general and not directed at one single person. She smiled down at him, the heartbreaking smile of a child. Surprised, Zeno twisted his waist around so quickly that his long hair went flying around his head.

The area behind him was completely empty.

There was no sign of the angel he had just seen in the stream. Zeno scanned the whole town of Wutai, straining his eyes to see where the girl had disappeared to, but it was just that—she had disappeared. Vanished completely as if he had been simply hallucinating.

Confused, Zeno turned back to the stream. Almost instantly, his hair was lifted once more as if by a wind—except that there was none. Involuntarily, Zeno glanced back into the stream and saw his reflection once more, except for the fact that it had changed.

Half of him was the normal Zeno that had always been reflected at him, but the other half was different—changed in ways both obvious and otherwise. A huge white wing arched over his normal side, but his other, different side bore a leathery bat-like wing with hooks and barbs at each tip and joint. The bat-winged side's eye was an intense emerald green and was narrowed with anger, his face twisted with hate and pure rage. As if that wasn't enough, that side's portion of hair was a pure, molten platinum silver, as if someone had melted the ore down and poured the whole thing while it was still burning hot over half of his hair. 

Just barely visible behind this horrifying visage was an eye, much like the eye of the twisted, hate-filled him, but belonging to a different being. He couldn't even make out what color its iris was, but Zeno could still easily get the vengeful message the eye glared to him. 

And then, out of nowhere, came a hissing, dry whisper slithering through his mind like a snake rustling through fallen autumn leaves.

_My son…_

_ _

_Zeno let out a short, cut-off yelp of horror and surprise, scrambling to his feet and almost falling over the opposite side of the bridge in an attempt to escape the mirage in the water. He leaned against the railing, breathing heavily and staring wide-eyed at the place he had occupied moments before._

The voice was gone.

Summoning up the rest of his courage and restoring his distant aura, Zeno crept back to the place and peered over the edge of the bridge, half-afraid as to what he would find in the water.

All he saw was his own reflection, both dark black eyes wide and scared, face even paler than normal and lips clenched together. Zeno stared down at himself, collapsing with relief. A brave, young _koi leaped out of the water, breaking through his reflection and flashing its golden-speckled body in the fading sun before disappearing back underwater. Zeno watched as his reflection flew apart and then slowly reformed, wavering in the ripples the fish had left behind._

_What was that? Zeno wondered, slowly standing and heading in the direction of Cloud's birthday party. _

_ _

_Was that…my answer? _

_ _

_ _

[Go to Chapter Four][1]

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	4. Suspicious Thoughts

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Suspicious Thoughts

Zeno sat alone once more, this time in his room, on his bed that was placed directly next to his open window. There was a new moon tonight; only the faint, dark smudge in the dark sky told of the moon's existence. The stars were out in full force, glimmering gently as they swung from their scattered perches in the fabric of the night. Wutai was silent and still, the stream a thread of shining silver and each building lit from within with life and light.

"Zeno?" Cloud knocked on the door to Zeno's room, opening it cautiously and peering in. Zeno looked up at him tiredly, leaning against the windowsill wearing his long-legged black pants with his shirt slung carelessly over the back of a chair nearby. Cloud entered and closed the door quietly behind him, taking the seat with Zeno's shirt hanging over its back.

"Yes?"

"Zeno, Tifa told me what you said this afternoon. She was…upset." Cloud leveled his sapphire-eyed gaze with Zeno's light-devouring one, unflinchingly keeping his eyes steady. He was one of the very few rare people who could actually meet Zeno's gaze without looking away in the next second. "Care to explain a bit more?"

Zeno blinked slowly at Cloud. "I meant what I said," he replied simply. "I don't feel like I belong here."

"Why not, Zeno? This is your home. You've lived here your whole life."

"I've lived here my whole life, true," Zeno acknowledged. "But I'm different from everyone else here. Who were my parents, anyway? I don't even know; you've never told me. I just feel like something out there is calling me to it in the back of my mind. And…" he hesitated. "…I saw my reflection in the stream after Tifa left. I saw something that left me slightly…disturbed…but it opened up some emotion…something that was walled up within me before…that told me that there was much, much more to the world than just this life."

Cloud snorted softly under his breath, shaking his head as he shifted his position on the chair. "I'll be damned. You're just acting like a normal kid, Zeno, and…I'm not going to try and sugarcoat things at this moment. _You are not normal, not in the sense of people like Tifa or me. Any idiot could see that you age and develop physically and mentally abnormally quickly. From what I've taught you with a sword, you've a natural talent and your reflexes are almost too quick to be human. You've read practically every single book you could get your hands on, either in the Wutai language or otherwise. The only thing you __don't do is act like a normal twenty-four-year-old. Admit it," he cut in sternly when Zeno opened his mouth in apparent protest, "you don't. You've showed no interest at all in any girls, you didn't act like a little bastard throughout what we consider your 'teenage' years, and…jeez, kid, you have an unreal obsession with reading."_

"Is that so wrong?" Zeno asked softly.

Cloud threw his hands into the air in mock surprise. " 'Is that so wrong', the kid says. Guys don't read as much as you do. Yeah, maybe they've done it a lot during their adolescent days, but once they're your age—and I'm referring to your apparent physical age—they concentrate more on trying to get a family. You're…you're only a year younger than me, for crying out loud!" He tilted his head back and slid his eyelids halfway downwards, giving Zeno a sly stare from beneath his half-closed lids. "You're also not only celibate, but a virgin, I assume. No activity going on at night, is there?" 

Zeno carefully refrained from exploding at his uncle and instead replied with, "What about you, Uncle Cloud? You haven't been exactly very active, either." He promptly imitated Cloud's prospecting stare, managing to make his look more demeaning and sardonic. "I'm not deaf or blind, either."

Cloud stared at Zeno in open-mouthed surprise, eyes complete open now and blank with shock. Zeno's dry, sarcastic comeback and tone of voice strongly reminded him once more of a person from the past who bore that same proud voice and almost condescending sense of humor. Narrowing his eyes in the mere slightest, Cloud inspected Zeno, taking in the young man's features and stance.

Zeno dropped the pose and looked at Cloud bemusedly. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Cloud shook his head instantly as if Zeno's voice had brought him back to the present. He appeared extremely scared, exhibited both by his suddenly pale face and wide eyes. "N-nothing, kid. I…think I need some sleep now. Tifa and I'll talk to you in the morning." He stood and left without another comment, closing Zeno's door behind him.

Cloud walked slowly down the hallway, dragging his feet on the floor and one hand along the wall as he moved. Finally, he stopped and leaned on his side, tilting his head to come in contact with the wall.

"Damn," he murmured out loud. "Damn. _You're who that kid looks like…and if my theory is right…you __are him."_

Cloud clenched his hands into fists out of sheer frustration and sudden anger, doing his best to restrain himself from pounding his fists into the wall and bringing the entire house down. How, how, how…How could he test his theory to see if he was right? The Lifestream? All of the Ancients, the one race that could communicate easily with the Lifestream, were dead…

_…Aeris…_

_ _

_There was only one way to test his idea out, and that was to satisfy Zeno's sudden wandering hunger and to go with him to a place where there was Lifestream in contact with the outside world._

_The North Crater…_

[Go to Chapter Five][1]

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   [1]: Chapter%205.htm
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	5. The King of Dragons

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

The King of Dragons

He was old—the oldest living creature in, on, or above the Planet, the only thing older than he being the Planet itself. He had seen the earliest signs of human life emerge and had seen them advance throughout the centuries. He had witnessed the rise of the Cetra civilization and had been there when they had foolishly accepted one who was not one of them into their midst. 

He had observed the Cetra perishing from their mistake.

Had the Cetra perhaps called on him in their time of need, he would have aided them. They were a part of him as much as he was a part of them, and although the Cetra had long forgotten the ties that he and his downtrodden kin shared with them, he still remembered. He was the oldest of all of his kind and of the Summon Elementals, the wisest, the one who knew the answers to everything and should have dominated the entire Planet as a god. He remembered the time long ago when he had been spawned from the bowels of the young Planet, and he had perceived the births of his Summon kin years after his own day of existence. He, with his unofficial post that had been somehow assigned to him for eternity, kept the Summons in line and reminded them of their duties to the Planet and to their cousins. 

Despite his duty, he forced the rules only when the help was asked for. All Summons were engaged to answering the calls of their mortal kin, although they could choose to come without help being asked for. However, he and the rest knew that that would never happen. Their pride, although they were family of a sort, kept them from thinking themselves as slaves to those who died and returned continuously and hardly ever acknowledged the glorious presence they so much depended on. 

_They are stupid, he thought to himself, __but they do what is right._

_ _

_"Bahamut, I've asked you many times now," Leviathan hissed softly, interrupting the elder's thoughts. "There is trouble. He who should not have been returned has returned. He poses another threat to the Planet's existence. What do we do?"_

Bahamut lowered his slender head on its S-curved neck and looked at his cousin with slanted crimson eyes. "I would like to hear from the others first," he responded, turning his eyes to the other Summons who floated on the astral plane.

Shiva stared coldly at Bahamut. "Elder," she said in a bare whisper that would have frozen a mortal's ears upon contact, "I have no say in this matter. All I do say is that we leave the decision up to you. You know the most and remember the most; surely you would have the best choice for this."

Ifrit objected almost immediately with a spout of fire spitting from his mouth. Shiva glared at him icily, keeping as far away from him as she could.

"I object," Ifrit growled. "I say that we just leave the mortals alone. They've pulled through the first time, so who says that they can't the second time? They'll have more experience, so surely it would be done even quicker…"

Phoenix trilled impatiently, twitching her bird head around. "Brother, while I would normally agree with you as you are also my fire-kin, this time, I must disagree. Yes, the mortals will have experience, but they _are mortals and not like the One who should have not returned. Those mortals who saved the Planet from death last time will be older now; by my calculations, the youngest is now about twenty, and the eldest is almost forty. The One who should have not returned is physically twenty-four and in perfect condition, both physically and mentally. He would be able to defeat all of them easily, because not only would his enemies be smarter, but he will be, too."_

Mog squeaked, bouncing excitedly on its chocobo, who squawked in agreement. 

"_What are you talking about?!" Kjata snorted._

"Mog says that Phoenix must have had a hand—or wing—in this, since she works in revival as well as fire," Bahamut translated smoothly. "Mog, your theory is correct, but you are wrong in this case. Phoenix does not deal with revival under certain circumstances; she can only revive those who the Planet lets her to. Others like the One and the Cetra are handled by the Planet itself."

"And what does the Planet have to say about this?" Alexander asked, creaking as he shifted his huge bulk while Mog and its chocobo slumped dejectedly. "How could it have allowed this to happen?"

Bahamut closed his eyes. "You have all lost communication with the Planet not too long ago, correct?" 

All of the Summons gave an affirmative. "But should that affect you as well, Elder?" Ramuh asked, stroking his white beard thoughtfully.

Bahamut bowed his head. "Unfortunately, it has. The Plant has shut us, its children, out of its communication and the Lifestream. We cannot tell what its motives were when the One came back. And yet I sense an alien hand dealing in this…"

Odin let out a low murmur. "Could it be that Jenova creature again?"

Bahamut nodded slowly. "There is a great possibility."

The Summons gathered before him all let out surprised exclamations. "How can this be true?! The mortal who defeated the One before also killed her, did he not?" Titan cried.

"No, not completely, I don't think. There might be a part of her somewhere…still alive…and still able to manipulate and control."

"Then we have to find that part," Typhoon said assertively, albeit a bit breathy in his voice. 

"And become slaves to the mortals once more," Hades grumbled rebelliously.

Arthur and his twelve other knights all glared at him simultaneously. "Then so be it," he boomed. "This is for our mother, Hades."

Hades snorted. "You can talk all you want. Of course they like you the best, Arthur, you and your knights! No one, not even the Elder, can match your damage factors!"

Bahamut cleared his throat noisily, reminding Hades of his place. "As I see it," he continued while Hades settled down, "we need to send an envoy down to the Planet to aid the mortals physically by their side. The rest of us will stay up here and wait to be summoned. Are there any volunteers to go?"

No one did so much as breathe in the complete silence that followed Bahamut's proposition.

"No one?" Bahamut looked around. "Leviathan?"

Leviathan coiled about himself, hissing under his breath. "No, Elder, I'm afraid not. There are limits to what I can do."

"Phoenix?"

"I would not be the best choice either, Elder." Phoenix let out a reluctant, fluting laugh. "You know that I would be of no help to the mortals, in fighting or in strategy. Defensive would be something I do best when called upon."

One by one, Bahamut went through all of the Summons, and all came up with legitimate excuses. Too weak, too hotheaded, too stubborn, doesn't know that much, can't speak intelligibly, too many, too big, too cold, too unobserving…

"The point we're getting at, Elder," Alexander announced, being as blunt as he usually was, "is that you should go yourself."

"I?" Bahamut blinked slowly, settling his leathery wings along his scaled back. "I am too old, I'm afraid." 

"Elder, if you're too old, I'm too young," Hades rasped in a voice that sounded like nails screeching across a piece of slate. "You are the oldest here and you know the most. You have three offensive forms to access, you know strategy, and you can help the mortals intercept any move the One might make."

"Besides that, you can shift into your humanoid form, which most of us can't do," Shiva pointed out. "Perhaps I am humanlike, too, but they have seen me before, as they have seen the other humanoid Summons. They would know who I am. The point is to make sure that they don't recognize us so that they are not suspicious as to how heavily the Planet's future lies on their shoulders."

"And they've never seen your humanoid form before, Elder," Odin agreed. "Arthur can take over as a temporary leader until this ordeal is over."

Bahamut laughed ruefully. "I see that I have no choice. Very well, then, I agree. Arthur, make sure that all Summons report if the mortals call them, and you are no exception to the rule, either." He turned to leave. "I wish all of you the best of luck. Goodbye."

In the blink of an eye, Bahamut disappeared. There was no poof or flash of light; just the fact that he was there, and then he was suddenly gone.

The other Summons stared at the empty space silently.

"And all of our wishes for good luck go to you, too, beloved Elder," Shiva whispered softly, exhaling plumes of cold white frost. "Good luck…"

***

Bahamut opened his eyes slowly as his clawed feet came into contact with the Planet. He dug his claw tips into the ground involuntarily, feeling a thrill of pleasure go through his spine at the soft, moist yielding of the earth. It had been far too long since he had last been in direct, physical contact with the Planet.

Taking in his surroundings, Bahamut noted, pleased, that he had managed to teleport to a very conveniently located place. Walls of mountains ending in sharp spikes told him that he was in the middle of the Nibel mountains, and the presence of an old, worn out building nearby said that, although humans had been here at one point, they weren't anymore. He leaned forward negligibly and spread his wings slightly to keep balance, sniffing at the shadowed structure. The musty smell of humans long past and the distinct odor of the Lifestream and death saturated the building. Tapping at it with one claw proved it to be solid, despite its broken down appearance. A flash of faded color caught his eye and he leaned down, narrowing his red eyes to catch what the barely visible sign read.

SHINRA

NIBELHEIM MAKO REACTOR

_Shinra. Ah, I recognize that name…No wonder this Reactor is abandoned; Shinra is dead, and this is where… Bahamut sniffed once more, wrinkling his nose in distaste and rearing his head back with a faint snort. __This is where that Jenova alien was stored. Jenova's scent, although old like the smell of the humans', was unmistakable. Dry, reeking of bitterness and hate, full of longed-after vengeance._

_I should shift now, before someone discovers me by accident. There's no time to dwell too much on the past at the moment…_

_ _

_Bahamut backed away from the Mako Reactor and closed his heavy eyes once more, concentrating on the energy he stored within him. He found the lines and grasped them with mental "hands," pulling them from their storage areas to his center of existence. Keeping his desired form firmly in mind while tugging strongly at the energy lines, he slowly felt the changes come over him as, with a bone-crunching snap, he shrunk from his majestically huge size into the delicately designed structure of mortal humans._

The Planet's gifts to its firstborn were his powers, his wisdom and intelligence, and his ability to shape shift into four forms—those referred to as Bahamut (his most comfortable and preferred form, despite being the weakest amongst the dragon shapes), Neo Bahamut, Bahamut ZERO, and the feeblest, the humanoid. Bahamut had practiced with his humanoid form before, so was by no means defenseless, and also knew almost by heart what he looked like. Even the Planet could not, it seemed, use up enough power to make him look like a complete human.

Bahamut's humanoid form still kept hints that he was not a mere mortal and perhaps descended from dragons. His soft skin was a light gray, a paler version of his heavily armored, dark gray, scaled dragon form. After rifling through the styles of several humans, he had found a suitable outfit that he could easily fight in and also hide things up sleeves and pant legs without them being obvious. Bahamut's clothes were a plain black, blending perfectly with his dull skin shade, and his boots were also black leather. He wore a hooded gray cape out of practicality for protection and hiding weapons. His hair was long and a gently scintillating light blue-gray while his eyes remained a furious, flashing crimson. A reason why he wore his hair long and had a hood in addition to that was because his ears were quite unlike a human's; while humans sported rounded ears, his were long, slender, and pointed, much like his normal dragon ears. Humans, in his experience, found his "mutated" ears to be quite unsettling besides the fact of his foreign skin color.

_Humans are stupid in that way, too, Bahamut thought amusedly as he opened his eyes and pulled his hood up over his head to hide his strange ears. __They can't accept beings for what they are without killing and dissecting them first._

_ _

_Relying once more on his inner strength, Bahamut summoned a strangely carved metal staff into his hands. Had humans been capable of understanding the dragon tongue, they would have read the engraved, twisted ruins as: "There is no pride in dying today; dying tomorrow with dignity is what matters." Inscribed above it in the ancient language of the Summons was the blessing of the Planet and, in much tinier print, the names of each of the Summons Bahamut shared his "blood" with. Mounted at the top of the staff was a flawed, mottled ruby that was roughly cut and shot through with various shades of red as well as dark orange. _

_There. Maybe this will discourage humans from bothering me. Bahamut smiled grimly before another thought entered his mind. __Maybe I can communicate with the Planet from down here…_

_ _

_Dropping to his knees in the dirt that had become rough to his soft human body, he placed a hand on the ground and reached out with his mind, trying to reach the spirit of the Planet. _

What he found obstructing him was a surprise, but not unexpected.

There was indeed, as he had sensed before, an alien spirit stopping him from reaching the Planet. It grabbed him in a rough grip and tossed his mind about, keeping him far away from the Planet's essence. Almost panicking, Bahamut managed to tear himself away from the evil spirit and hurl himself back towards the safety of his body. As he sped upwards, the heat of the guardian on his back, he faintly heard the despairing call of the Planet, shrieking like a child in pain. Usually, the mortals could pick up on the Planet's cries, but this time, it was muffled by the alien presence. That strange being kept the Planet from being heard, effectively keeping the mortals from realizing that something was wrong. Especially with no more Cetra to talk with the Planet anymore, the mortals were completely oblivious and unaware.

_Someone has to warn them…but first…I have to somehow reach the Planet._

_ _

_Bahamut surfaced back into his body and summoned a mental image of the Planet's surface that he had flown over so many times, drowned in oceans, lakes, and rivers, studded by huge land masses and islands, ridged by mountain ranges and dotted by human homes. From the area where he was at, there was a place not too far away that had a very close contact with the Lifestream. Trying it from within the Reactor would not do, for it was dead and the Lifestream surfacing in its bowels was already sealed away by the Planet and Holy. But there was a place…a place hidden within a round crater, nearby a dark, sparkling lake, flanked by bits of land, and curtained by a shimmering waterfall. From sense, it was a serene little grotto that had once been inhabited by a long-gone ghost and was covered from waterfall to cavern wall by memories of the past._

Hopefully, no one would be there at the moment…

_And I don't think the Planet will mind if I "cheat" a little…_

[Go to Chapter Six][1]

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   [1]: Chapter%206.htm
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	6. Subtle Answers

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Subtle Answers

"Good morning, Zeno," Tifa said softly as she glanced up from where she was cleaning dishes. Cloud echoed her greeting just as quietly, ocean-blue eyes watching Zeno as the young man wandered into the kitchen. "Did you sleep well?"

"As well as I usually do lately," Zeno replied dryly, pulling up a seat at the wooden dining table. "Which is to say, not that well." He planted his elbows on the currently clear tabletop and rested his chin in the palms of his hands, sighing sleepily. "Maybe I should get checked for insomnia."

Zeno didn't mention that the reason why he had been tossing and turning all night was because of that distinct pulling that had visited him even stronger than before ever since he had seen that vision in the Wutai stream and heard the voice of a stranger in his mind. He wasn't sure what that insistent tugging was trying to say, but he could pick up on some feeling that was telling him to go north. He kept seeing flashes of a large hole in the ground surrounded by trees, and then that scene was cut short by a rolling mass of shimmering green liquid that seemed to be trying to block him from the place he had been shown. Confused and more than just upset, Zeno had always jolted awake and stared out of his window for hours, watching the moon and stars shift in the night sky and scared of returning to sleep. Each time he had drifted off again, the dream came back, more urgent than the last time and scaring him even more than before. 

_What does it mean? Zeno wondered as Tifa drifted around the kitchen. He twitched his head around just in time to catch Cloud avert his eyes quickly, just barely picking up on the disturbed, brooding look in his "uncle's" eyes. __What's going on?_

_ _

_Just then, the front door slammed open, the startling boom followed immediately by the familiar, slightly shrill voice of Yuffie._

"Hey, everybody! I'm starved!" She announced as she marched into the kitchen, whacking Zeno in a "friendly" manner on his back. She traded a look with Cloud and Tifa that conveyed message after message between them while Zeno looked on, ignoring his stinging back and trying to decipher the code the trio sent to each other.

"What's going on?" Zeno asked in a deceptively calm tone, voicing the question that ran through his mind earlier. "Why are you all doing that?"

"Doing what?" Tifa asked, trying to sound smooth and unworried as she slid a bowl of oatmeal across the table to Zeno and went back to get another bowl.

"Don't go into acting as a permanent career, Aunt Tifa," Zeno advised sarcastically. Once more, Cloud started in surprise and looked quickly at Zeno with wide, almost scared eyes. Zeno didn't catch the look this time, keeping his searching gaze on Tifa's back as she fidgeted nervously. "You wouldn't make it. And you know what I'm talking about, so don't act innocent. You three are all up to something, and it's about me. Any idiot with eyes and an adequate brain could figure that out."

Yuffie gave a low whistle. "You're right, Cloud; this _is serious." She crossed her arms over her chest and sat down on a chair opposite of Zeno, leaning back and putting her boots on the table._

"Get your feet off the table, please," Tifa requested, obviously stalling for time as she returned, handing Cloud the second bowl and going back for Yuffie's. Yuffie ignored her, watching Zeno with shrewd brown eyes over the tips of her boots.

"We might as well tell him," she murmured, winking at Cloud so quickly that Zeno didn't see it. 

Cloud nodded slowly. "All right." He turned his chair so that he faced Zeno on a slight angle. "Zeno, you told me that you…felt like you didn't belong here—as if something was calling you. Am I right?"

Zeno dropped his head forward in slight acknowledgement. 

"So…we all decided that…we would all leave Wutai together and see if we could find that crater you were being called to."

"I didn't tell you that something was calling me to a crater."

Zeno's flat comment hung in the air with an ominous note. Cloud and Yuffie both froze momentarily, eyes going to each other in sudden helplessness and urgency. Tifa gasped and dropped Yuffie's bowl of oatmeal that was still on its trip to its future consumer. The sound of the ceramic container shattering on the ground with the oatmeal making a mushy _splat noise weighed heavily against the silence until it broke through as Tifa bent down to clean up the mess. Zeno shifted his eyes down, noting the fact that the young woman's hands were extremely pale and shaking as she tried to pick up each bit of the bowl._

"There's something that you aren't telling me, isn't there." Zeno's sentence wasn't phrased as a question but as a definite statement that demanded a response. His light-devouring eyes were on Cloud once more, piercing through the sapphire fabric of Cloud's eyes like an eagle's talons through the body of its prey.

"Um…" Cloud's stammering response was the affirmative that Zeno was waiting for. He surged to his feet, anger flaring in his eyes that had freed Cloud from their grasp.

"What is it?!" he demanded angrily, glaring around the room. "What is it that you aren't telling me?! How much do you all know, anyway? Who am I?! _Who am I?!"_

"Damn you for an indecisive jerk, Cloud," Yuffie muttered out of the corner of her mouth as Zeno shook with barely controlled rage. Luckily, with Zeno's flaming emotions pounding in his ears, he couldn't hear her whispered comment.

"I…I didn't know what to say," Cloud mumbled back, his limbs locked in terror as he stared at Zeno. "He's almost out of control, Yuffie! What do we do? He wants answers, and if I knew Sephiroth, he's not going to stop until he gets them!"

"I thought we agreed not to mention that bastard's name ever again!" Yuffie spat out, her voice rising high enough for Zeno to finally hear her. She leaped up, joining Zeno in his standing position as she grabbed Cloud's collar in a firm grip. "You idiot—now you've ruined everything!"

Zeno inhaled so sharply that Yuffie, Cloud, and Tifa all looked up at him in alarm. His hair was flying in his face from the force of some invisible wind that seemed to be emitting from his form while his eyes snapped angrily, shifting from dark black to a pulsating meld of colors. "Tell me," he growled from between gritted teeth. "_What—are—you—hiding—from—me?"_

Tifa darted from her crouched position and grabbed Zeno's arm, shaking him out of his enraged aura. "Stop it, Zeno!" she cried. "Stop! We'll tell you, just stop whatever you're doing!"

The fear was plain in her voice. Cloud instantly understood why she was so afraid; a vision from more than four years ago struck him, one of a village burning while a silver-haired figure walked through the dancing flames.

_Oh, God, not another Nibelheim…_

_ _

_Zeno calmed down instantly, Tifa and Cloud both relaxing at the same time. He slid back into his seat, confusion clouding his midnight black eyes. "What…what was I doing?" he asked, slowly and timidly like a child trying out his first words._

Tifa kept a motherly hand on Zeno's shoulder. "Shh, Zeno. You were right. We shouldn't have kept it from you, but we weren't—and still aren't—sure. We…" she hesitated before going on. "We think that you are the reincarnation of some man from the past. He was…very ruthless and powerful. He had the strength, desire, and power to destroy the whole Planet. We…have to be sure. That's why we have decided to leave Wutai."

"Oh." Zeno closed his eyes, visibly calming himself down. "But…how did you know that I was being called to a crater of some sort?"

"We've had visions too." Tifa smiled forcedly. "Sometimes they're true."

Zeno shook his head sluggishly as if he had a headache. "Now I think I want to go back to sleep."

"That's fine." Tifa backed away as Zeno got up. "We're leaving in a few days. Don't worry, Zeno. You just rest and we'll take care of everything. All right?"

Zeno nodded as he disappeared up the stairs. "All right…"

The trio waited for Zeno's door to close before they began speaking in hushed tones. 

"I can't believe you, Tifa," Cloud hissed. "Zeno said that you shouldn't go into acting, but you sure can be pretty believable once you get into the act."

Tifa shook her head. "It was partly Zeno," she admitted. "Something inside of me wanted to protect him from the truth. He's not ready yet, Cloud. As much as he looks like an adult, he's just a child inside. He's just not ready."

"But he knows a little bit of the whole scheme," Yuffie added quietly. "Even though Tifa didn't tell him everything, he still knows some. And that's going to have to keep us on our toes as long as he's in our presence."

Cloud nodded. "You're right, Yuffie. We'd better start packing…The sooner we leave, the better, and the sooner we get our answers…the better." He started to leave before he turned back.

"What is it, Cloud?" Tifa asked softly.

"I forgot to say it, but…Be ready, both of you. Bring your weapons and start training yourselves again if you have to. We have to be ready to defend the Planet and ourselves again if we need to…"

_…And if the need ever arises, we have to be ready to take down Zeno…_

[Go to Chapter Seven][1]

[Return to Fanfiction][2]

   [1]: Chapter%207.htm
   [2]: ..\Out%20of%20the%20Blue\OotBFanfic.doc



	7. Past, Present, and Future

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Past, Present, and Future

Bahamut opened his eyes to find himself on the ridge of a mountain that encircled a deep blue lake. He looked down the sloping sides, gauging the angle and finally deciding that it would be safe enough to walk down it. Leaning backwards slightly, he carefully found foothold after foothold and made his way down the mountain into the center.

His covered ears could still pick up the continuous laughter of a waterfall that ran in front of him across the lake's surface, creating white foam and sprays of water that in turn threw off iridescent rainbows. Bahamut nodded to himself, satisfied that the place seemed secluded enough before walking around the lake and starting to enter through the waterfall's thick cover.

_Click._

Bahamut's intended path was cut short by the ominous noise and the nozzle of a gun pointing directly at the area between his eyes. He froze instantly as a cold, harsh voice pierced through the noise of the waterfall.

"Back away, give me your staff, and keep your hands up. Now," the voice that belonged to the shadowed figure within the waterfall ordered. The only thing that showed of the stranger—besides the gun—were two glowing, crimson eyes that reminded Bahamut of his own.

Bahamut obeyed without another word. Granted that a mere bullet was not enough to kill him, it _would leave him uncomfortable for a while until his body's internal structure eventually destroyed its presence. Having that annoying twinge inside of him would no doubt interfere with his concentration of communicating with the Planet. _

_I can't take that risk now._

_ _

_"I didn't think that there was someone living here," he commented as he backed off, extending his staff that the figure took quickly. He slowly put his hands up in the air, spreading his hands to show that he had no other weapons in them._

_Of course, this person doesn't know about my knives…but I don't have to tell him about them._

_ _

_"Don't talk," the figure snapped. "Move." The gun tip prodded Bahamut's forehead, causing the Summon to take step after step backwards as the other man stepped forward and out of the waterfall._

Bahamut raised an eyebrow in mild surprise as the identity of his captor was revealed.

_Well, well…So this is where he went. I shouldn't be too surprised._

_ _

_Vincent was soaking wet from walking through the waterfall at his slow pace, but that didn't dampen the threatening glare in his eyes or the way his aura simply flared with suspicion. The rest of him was slender and almost emaciated, making Bahamut wonder at how the man could manage to support the surely heavy mechanical arm that graced Vincent's left side. The part of his face that showed was still as pale as death itself and just as sharp and cold as his attitude._

_In short, Bahamut thought amusedly, __he still looks the same as ever._

_ _

_"I have questions, and I want answers to them," Vincent announced calmly, managing—with very little effort exhibited—to ignore the water that dripped continuously from his hair, clothes, and skin. "I also am not in a very good mood today, so I'm sure you want to avoid meeting up with the Planet face-to-face, correct?" _

Bahamut shrugged. "You have me at gunpoint. Do I have a choice otherwise?"

Vincent's eyes narrowed at the flippant comeback, his trigger finger tightening barely perceptibly. "You're digging your grave deeper," he hissed softly. His eyes had gone completely flinty and the tiniest hints of scales were beginning to creep across his face. Bahamut watched in fascination as the hand that held the gun in his face slowly began to elongate, fingernails lengthening into claws.

_Careful, boy. You're losing control of Chaos, and I can defeat you easily if I have to._

_ _

_"Dad!" _

Vincent froze at the young voice an instant before the grayish flush of scales disappeared from his skin and his fingernails and hand receded back into human form. However, his eyes remained locked on Bahamut, as well as his gun.

"Dad!" the same voice repeated again. A new form slipped through the sides of the waterfall, avoiding the heavier parts that Vincent had just walked through. The small figure approached rapidly, flecks of water flying from a braid of chestnut brown hair.

"Aeris, I told you to stay in the cave," Vincent said in a low voice. "Now get back in there."

_Aeris? Bahamut's ears perked up at the sound of the name and his eyes flicked over to the girl identified as Aeris in interest. __The Cetra?_

_ _

_Aeris frowned, still managing to look like an angel from heaven as she stopped next to Vincent. "Dad," she insisted, reaching up with tapered fingers to gently swing Vincent's gun arm away from Bahamut. "He doesn't want to hurt us. I can feel it."_

Meanwhile, Bahamut was definitely even more interested than before. He had seen the original Cetra, Aeris, before she had died, and this new Aeris was the splitting image of her, albeit a few minor changes. Her hair was a long, rich brown braided back with a piece of white cloth and a pair of long bangs fell into laughing emerald green eyes. She wore a pale, sleeveless pink dress that had obviously been through a lot, as evidenced by the many redone and worn out seams and patches. She still had that faint, permanent curve to her lips that made her look like she was smiling all the time, even in the rare instances that she lost her temper.

This_ is a surprise._

_ _

_Vincent jammed the gun back into its holster after switching on the safety, still keeping his eyes on Bahamut. "Aeris," he began in a patient voice, "you've never been outside of the grotto your entire life. You don't know what people are like out there. Besides, didn't you say that your connection with the Planet was being blocked recently?"_

Aeris shook her head. "Dad, I don't need the Planet to know what this man is like. He doesn't want to hurt us; trust me on it." She turned to Bahamut, smiling cheerfully. "Please excuse my father. He hasn't lived in very welcoming conditions before, and I know he's only trying to protect me. I'm Aeris." She extended one graceful hand towards Bahamut.

Bahamut lowered his hands and covered Aeris' proffered hand with his own, smiling back at her. 

"I am called Bahamut."

***

As soon as the stranger's hand touched her own, Aeris knew that this man was no ordinary person. His hand was rough and almost felt like it was covered by barely developed scales of some sort. When she glanced down in surprise, she saw that his hand that was carefully closed around hers sported long, dagger-like nails that could no doubt rend any man into shreds with a few quick swipes. His skin was also a strange light gray, which also struck Aeris as strange since from what her father had described to her, humans didn't normally come in shades of gray.

And then he had smiled.

It was only her own curiosity and politeness that kept her from backing away. The man's teeth were pointed like his fingernails, were a pure milky white, and looked just as capable of slicing through meat as his nails were. Looking up—_just how tall is__ he, anyway? Aeris wondered as she tilted her head far back—at his teeth gave her a good look at his fiery red eyes that burned from the depths of his cape's hood, as well as another glimpse of the same gray skin of his hand._

"I am called Bahamut," he introduced himself in a pleasantly low voice. She heard her father look up sharply at the name and barely felt the slight breath of wind that meant that he was reaching for his gun once more.

"Don't, Dad," she warned softly, keeping her smile on her face. Her father stopped again and sighed almost soundlessly, crossing his arms over his chest to signal that he had given up and that Aeris was in command.

Bahamut's eyes shifted to her father, glinting with faint amusement. "And who are you?" he asked, releasing Aeris' hand from his friendly grip.

"I think you know," Aeris' father replied in a steely, wary voice. "Now that we know each other, how about you telling me what you're doing here?"

"A legitimate question," Bahamut responded, his voice plainly showing that he was at ease with everyone present, despite Aeris' father's suspicious attitude. "However, I am afraid that you won't be getting an answer to that question just yet. I promise that I will tell you in due course; however, now is not the time. Until then, I beg that you allow me to stay here until a certain time."

"Of course," Aeris agreed amicably, as was her gentle nature to.

"Why?" her father snapped at the same time.

Bahamut lost his light mood for a mere instant as his eyes immediately became harsh and darkly foreboding. "The time for you and your friends may arise soon enough, Vincent Valentine," he said in hard tones. "I think you have noticed that by now." He nodded in Aeris' direction, a motion that was not missed by either Aeris or her father.

"W-what?" Aeris asked in bewilderment.

"Aeris, I have to talk with this man for a moment," her father growled softly in a voice that brooked no argument this time. "Get in the cave. We'll join you soon enough."

Aeris shivered at the chilly aura that ran through the air, which was strange since the grotto's enclosed position kept all wind from entering. She turned and ran back through the waterfall, willingly letting the cold waters clear her mind and dissipate the uneasy dread that ran through her spine.

***

Vincent regarded the man who called himself Bahamut with calculating eyes, moving out of the shadow of the mountain as Aeris disappeared. "Tell me what you meant, Bahamut," he demanded. "And be quick about it before I either put a bullet through your head or Aeris comes back out."

Bahamut shook his head, letting his hood fall back and revealing his entire face for the first time. His strangely iridescent silvery-blue hair spilled out of the confines of his dropping hood, moving away from his sharply pointed, animalistic ears. "I think you have suspected at least half the truth, Vincent," he remarked quietly. "Do tell me what you think so that I won't have to bore you with details you already know."

"I know that you aren't mortal," Vincent shot back. "What I don't know is why Bahamut, the great King of the dragons, would come here out of all the places on the Planet. All I can think is that your appearance has to do something with Aeris and why she keeps talking about how the Planet is being blocked from her by someone."

Bahamut nodded slowly. "You're correct so far." He abruptly sat down on the ground, looking over the barely disrupted part of the lake. "I am here because of the Planet and because of your 'daughter,' Aeris." He turned his head to look up at Vincent, who remained standing. "Does she know that she isn't really your daughter?"

Vincent shook his head reluctantly. "No. I found her four years ago, and the fact that she's aged into a twenty-two-year-old over that period of time kept me from wanting to tell her. She's so innocent that it's hard for me to even bring up the fact that I'm not her real father and that I don't even know who her parents were. Or that I found her, alone, in this very same lake."

"Then this makes things a little harder." Bahamut turned back to the lake, resting his chin on his hands. "You named her Aeris because she reminds you of the Aeris who died for the Planet a few years ago, correct?"

"Uncanny sense of yours, but it's true. She acts and looks just like her."

"Here is my theory, because the Planet has even been shut from my kin and I, and we can only speculate as to what has happened. The appearance of Aeris has confirmed it to a slight degree." Bahamut breathed outward slowly. "There's a slight possibility that Jenova has returned."

"We killed her," Vincent growled flatly. "There's no way—"

"There is," Bahamut interrupted gently. "You do remember that Sephiroth kept dropping parts of Jenova for you and your companions to fight with? Each part grew into a Jenova. Sephiroth, however, didn't drop every single part he had. He kept one preserved deep within the Lifestream; so deep that it couldn't emerge at the time of the final battle. But it did eventually, and the first thing that happened was that it grew into Jenova. Then, once she was whole, she proceeded to find her son's wandering and lost spirit within the core of the Lifestream and brought him back to the mortal world of the Planet. She implanted him into the womb of a young girl much like how her cells were injected into the original Sephiroth and used a stored clone of her original son to father the unborn child. Afterwards, she destroyed the clone and then used her growing powers to block the Planet from the beings that lived on it."

"How come she didn't just use that stored clone to let loose on the Planet and then block it off?" Vincent asked, his guard going down slightly as he listened to Bahamut speak.

Bahamut shrugged. "Judging from the way that Jenova thinks, she was putting the boy into a place where people would raise and care for him, not knowing that they were nurturing a living weapon. A clone would carry out the job just as readily, but would not inflict as much emotional pain. Knowing that a child they had raised themselves had just turned on them would tear the 'parents' apart before he killed them."

"Makes sense."

"It's Jenova, and it's how she thinks. Now, this brings us up to Aeris. The Planet copied Jenova and brought back the one person who could foil Jenova's plans once more—Aeris Gainsborough, the last being with Cetra blood within her. It barely managed to do this before Jenova shut most of it off from the mortal realm, and Aeris emerged as a baby in the one place the Planet could think she would be safe."

"Then explain how she aged so quickly."

"Remember, this is only a conjecture of my own and not necessarily the truth. I think that Jenova knew that she wouldn't be able to hold the Planet back indefinitely, and she also knew that the Planet had somehow managed to send out Aeris. So, in order to have an advantage, Jenova aged her Sephiroth-would be at a quick rate before entirely stopping the aging process. Once more, the Planet copied her, only it was at a disadvantage with Jenova blocking its full strength. So, I'm guessing that Aeris is a younger age than that of whoever Sephiroth is. She's just about the age that she was when she died before, so there's a possibility that the same goes for 'Sephiroth.' The problem is that no one knows for sure how old the original Sephiroth was."

"Do you know who this Sephiroth incarnation is?"

Bahamut frowned and shook his head regrettably. "Unfortunately, no. The reason why I am here is because this is a place extremely close to the Lifestream, although people might not know that. I was planning on using it to see if I could successfully contact the Planet and to maybe sense exactly who this new Sephiroth is. The problem is…" He stopped completely and tilted his head to one side in a listening pose. "Well, the problem is that from what I can pick up, the Planet's signals are just as muffled as before I tried it, and I was outside of a Mako reactor at the time. If I concentrate hard enough, I might be able to just barely get in touch with the Planet. Last time, I was stopped quite forcibly by someone I suspect to be Jenova, but over here I might be able to break through her barriers."

Vincent was silent for a moment before he sighed reluctantly. "Alright. I don't like it, but I'll have to believe you for now. Stay here for as long as it takes, Bahamut."

"I have a few questions for you." Bahamut slid to his feet, spinning once more to go face to face with Vincent. He was still taller than the mortal, which Vincent obviously found uncomfortable since he was used to looking down at people, not the other way around. Bahamut held out his hands for his staff, which Vincent handed to him.

"Strange weapon," Vincent remarked as the staff left his hands, noticeably changing the subject. "What does it do? Is it the only thing you have?"

Bahamut smiled once more, baring his sharply pointed teeth. "You don't want to know what it does," he replied lightly. "And no, it's not my only weapon. May I ask you my questions now?"

Vincent shifted his weight uncomfortably, as if he knew that he wasn't going to like the questions that Bahamut was going to ask.

"If you don't want to answer, you don't have to."

"Shoot, then."

"Why are you living by yourself out here, Vincent?" Bahamut leaned against his staff with the end planted firmly in the ground, lowering his head to Vincent's level. "Why did you split up from the others?"

Vincent laughed in response, a rough, bone-chilling laugh that sounded more like a snarl. "We all split up in the end," he replied, still chuckling harshly under his breath as if Bahamut's question was the funniest thing in the world he had ever heard. "Last I heard, Cid went back to Rocket Town, Nanaki is overseeing Cosmo Canyon in the place of his grandfather, Barret and Reeve are trying to rebuild Midgar into a better city, and Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie are all in Wutai, doing whatever the hell they're doing. I…I was just the first one to go. Before you ask why, think about it. My reason for joining them was over and I just as obviously never belonged with them." He drew his lips back into what could have been taken as a smile, but was just as contorted and cold as his laugh. "Cloud and Tifa ran away from their memories that they couldn't stand anymore. I live with my past every single day of my life, because those memories are all that I can truly cherish. Karma plays a harsh role on us, don't you think? My memories…_are my life, and I can't just throw them away."_

"Do you truly feel that way?" Bahamut asked softly, red eyes glimmering sadly under the fading rays of the sun that was sinking beyond the tops of the mountain ranges encircling the grotto. "Vincent, there has to be more that you aren't exploring. What about Aeris? And—honestly, now—why have you never told her the truth?"

"Aeris is the only person in my life who has meant so much to me that I'll give up my existence for her. Ironic, isn't it?" Vincent smiled briefly, a direct contrast to his bitter grimaces. "Years ago, it would have been Lucrecia. But…I was never in love with her as much as I was infatuated with her, I think. I truly care for Aeris in ways that I'll never care for another human being—as a daughter." He abruptly raised his mechanical left arm into the air, light glinting off of the steel tips. "Do you know how I became like this? I wasn't like this at all before I came to Nibelheim. I could still feel emotions back then. That was when I first met Lucrecia, while I was still working as a Turk under Shinra. Lucrecia was a scientist, the co-worker to Hojo. As much as I thought I loved her, she fell in love with Hojo. He, in my eyes, turned traitor to her and used her and the unborn child she bore from Hojo within her as one of his twisted Jenova experiments. I tried to stop him and was killed, and then he used my corpse as a Jenova test as well. He rebuilt my structure entirely and revived me back into what I am today.

"I fell into a state of confusion and shock after that. Not knowing what to do, I crawled into a coffin I found in the basement of the Shinra Mansion off to the side. Once there, I immediately slipped into sleep. Despite that, I still thought to myself within my dream world. I wondered how Lucrecia could agree to go through with Hojo's plan and use her own child as an experiment. I kept thinking…how could that woman, in her right mind, permit herself and her son to a life of despair? 

"When I awoke, I was still confused, but I was faced with people this time. People I didn't know…They were none other than Cloud and his friends. The original Aeris was still alive back then, and she was the only person there who expressed pity for me as Cloud explained what had happened throughout the years that I had rested. That pity was what hardened me for what I believed to be the rest of my short existence. I didn't want that pity and I promised myself that, no matter what, I would not be like Lucrecia and weakly bend to the wind. I still thought back then that Lucrecia had allowed herself to become Hojo's experiment because she was so weak.

"I met her for the last time afterwards. She was on the verge of ceasing to exist in this world, more of a ghost than anything else. I remembered my past through her, and I saw the raw emotion she showed for her son, Sephiroth. I started thinking again, about how she could let her child become a lab animal—a son she obviously loved so much. And I realized that it was because…as much as I hated to admit it…she loved Hojo." Vincent convulsively closed his hand into a fist, shaking his head slowly. "She loved that sick bastard so much that she gave her and her son's life away just to please him. And I knew then…that I would never, ever love anyone as much as she loved Hojo. So I thought until I found Aeris." He turned back towards the waterfall and began walking towards it. "So you see, Bahamut, even though it may sound totally irrational to an immortal like you, that is why I can't bring myself to tell Aeris that she isn't my real daughter. And that is why I will willingly sacrifice myself for her…"

_…Because she's all the life I have left._

[Go to Chapter Eight][1]

[Return to Fanfiction][2]

   [1]: Chapter%208.htm
   [2]: ..\Out%20of%20the%20Blue\OotBFanfic.doc



	8. Letting Go

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Letting Go

Yuffie Kisaragi should have taken her role as the daughter of Wutai's Lord more seriously years ago. Rebellious, she had instead run away and refused to even speak to her father about the subject unless he cornered her unwittingly and forced the topic on her. Always, every single "discussion" had ended in an uproarious spat that left the link between daughter and father even more unstable than ever before. Yuffie had always fled her father's presence, trembling with unjustified and unspent rage while Lord Godo quite literally stomped back to his room, growling under his breath. She started drinking when she was sixteen, giving her more of an excuse to avoid Godo whenever possible. Unfortunately, the abrupt presentation of Zeno and the almost motherly fondness she had for the child made her break the habit. She still kept her distance from Godo, however, knowing that only this would keep them away from each other's throats.

Now, though, she was left with no choice but to finally face Godo.

_If only I didn't want to go with them, Yuffie brooded as she trudged up to her father's house that she had not put a foot inside of for longer than she could remember. __If only I didn't care for Zeno so much…if only I didn't have this sudden urge to go adventuring again…_

_ _

_The sliding door to Godo's room loomed in front of her abruptly. Yuffie closed her eyes resignedly and took a deep breath._

_If only that old goat wasn't so stubborn…_

_ _

_She raised her gloved right fist and knocked on the side of the door, knowing that Godo would be inside._

"Come in," she heard her father's rough, deep voice answer. Yuffie slid the door aside and stepped in, quietly closing the door behind her.

And stood there, head bowed, completely silent for perhaps the first time in her garrulous life.

Lord Godo Kisaragi stared at his daughter, knowing that she wanted something and unsure of what to say. The fact that she wasn't here for a pleasure trip was stated by the fact that she was wearing her old ninja outfit, complete with the green, no-sleeve turtleneck sweater, khaki shorts, gloves, boots, and origami slung over her back with sharp shuriken no doubt secreted all over her body. That fact was made all the more obvious by the sight—or sound—of Yuffie standing complete still and quiet, with no hint at all that she was about to say anything until Godo did first.

"What do you want?" Godo growled, getting as straight to the point as he could. It had been so long since he had last spoken to his daughter…

Yuffie raised her eyes from the floor, not quite meeting his eyes. "I have a favor to ask of you, father."

Godo almost snorted in surprise. _What's with the sudden acquiescence? She's never acted like this towards me before. "Tell me."_

"You remember Cloud Strife, the hero of the Planet?"

"Of course I do."

"And Tifa Lockheart?"

Godo glared at her suspiciously. "Get to the point, girl."

"Father, they are in need of help again." Yuffie tilted her head to one side, finally meeting Godo's gaze. "And once more, this could mean the fate of the 

Planet itself."

Godo was silent for a very long time; so long that Yuffie almost collapsed from holding her breath throughout the duration of that silence. Finally, he spoke again.

"Yuffie, whether this means the fate of the Planet or not, I forbid you to go. I'm not young anymore, and you are to be my heir. I don't want to leave Wutai in the incapable hands of a spoiled brat."

" 'Spoiled brat'?" Yuffie inquired, feeling her temper rise within her. She snapped her head up, her brown eyes glinting dangerously. "Is that what I am?"

Godo stood, frowning. "You have avoided your duties for too long, Yuffie Kisaragi. It is time for you to leave your childish world behind—long since time. Leave this problem to your friends; they fixed it once, and they can do it again."

"You don't understand, do you, you senile old man." Yuffie leaned forward, malice dripping from her voice like poison from a viper. "This could mean another Meteor, and this time, Holy won't be able to save us. The Lifestream is still worn out from the last time, and the Planet won't be able to use it again. He…" she lowered her voice to a threatening hiss. "…Sephiroth might come back. Cloud needs as many people as he can get."

Godo shook his head, calmly crossing his arms across his chest. "Yuffie, what proof do you have?" 

That all but popped Yuffie's motivational balloon. _Crap. I can't tell him about Zeno…he'll have the kid exiled or worse before we can figure out what he is! But if I don't go…something might happen. I know __it…_

_ _

_"I…I just have to go!" Yuffie was clearly getting frustrated now._

"And I forbid you to."

"You can't do that!"

"I am your father and your Lord. If you set one foot outside of Wutai, then you are hereby exiled and disowned from the Kisaragi bloodline."

Godo's cold verdict should have immediately cowed any girl with a weaker spirit than Yuffie, but she was far past that point now.

"I don't care!" she snapped. "I broke my lines five years ago, and like hell will I try to take them back again! Cloud and the others need me, and _nothing…is going…to stop me!"_

Godo stared in barely visible shock as his daughter abruptly turned on him, displaying the same amount of anger she had always shown in the past…and yet so much more. She was trembling, every hair on end, with no signs of backing down.

_Oh, gods…she's so much like me…and…_

_ _

_If Yuffie had had much longer hair and had lost the hard, intense look of anger in her dark brown eyes and slender face and body, she would have looked so much like her mother. So much like the woman Godo had loved long ago…the woman who had died and left him, an unworthy parent, with a balking, stubborn girl-child. _

_So much like her mother…_

_ _

_That was the only reason why Godo let his daughter whirl around and stalk out of the room, her attitude plainly saying that she would never, ever return to Wutai again._

_Leviathan, watch over her…_

_ _

***

Cloud twirled the hilt of his sword between his fingers as if it were a baton, the large, cleaver-like blade slicing through the air with a faint hissing noise. Zeno watched in pure fascination as the sword's slightly purple tint spun in a complete circle, over and over again while his "uncle" continued whirling it around as if it weighed little more than a feather.

"Cloud, stop that," Tifa chided after listening to Cloud's Ultima Weapon whistle on for about ten minutes straight. "At this rate, it's going to be worn down just from you spinning it like that."

Cloud stopped almost instantly, grabbing his sword's hilt in his fist and effectively ending the weapon's momentum. "What about you? Are your gloves in working order?"

Tifa flexed her hands unconsciously, still trying to get used to their feel. "Well, it's been a while since I've last worn them, but I can still fight. I've been practicing when you guys weren't watching."

"Good." Cloud nodded approvingly. 

"I have a question." Zeno raised his head, straightening his body from its leaning position against the bridge nearby Wutai's entrance. "Exactly why do we have to bring weapons along?"

"Protection," Cloud answered shortly. "You never know what might hit us out there."

"And is there any reason why you didn't let me bring any weapon more than one dagger?"

"Training."

"Ah." Zeno turned away, training his eyes once more on inner Wutai.

"When is Yuffie going to get here?" Tifa whispered to Cloud.

"I don't know exactly," Cloud admitted slowly. "She said that she had to talk with Lord Godo first, and then she would join us."

"Here she is," Zeno announced, moving back to Cloud and Tifa.

Cloud shaded his eyes to catch Yuffie's slight figure dashing towards them, a grim expression pasted on her usually mischievous face. "What's wrong, Yuffie?"

Yuffie tied her usual headband onto her head, flipping her bangs out to hang over it on her forehead. "Nothing," she snapped. "Let's move."

As Cloud, Tifa, and Zeno started out of Wutai ahead of her, Yuffie nerved herself and cast one last look back at Wutai. The quiet little town, graced with red shades for good luck, watched her go with the blank eyes of the windows. In the far back was a tall, graceful tower that hovered over the rest of Wutai with a quiet presence. Yuffie stared at the five levels of the pagoda tower, tracing its shape and height with her eyes. Finally, she ended at the top level, the place where she had fought—and defeated—her own father almost five years ago.

_Five years ago, I would have been happy to leave this mess._

_ _

_…But…that was five years ago…and now I love this little village more than I can try to explain. Yuffie turned and ran to join the others, squaring her small shoulders._

_And I'm never coming back._

_ _

***

"So, genius…" Tifa dug the toe of her boot into the soft dirt, staring down at the large, three-toed prints in the earth in front of them. "How do you suggest that we catch chocobos without any chocobo lure?"

"I…hadn't thought of that," Cloud admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his head with his hand. "I figured that we had most of the materia that we started out with way back at Midgar years ago, but…I guess I didn't inventory it too well."

"And _where, exactly, is the Chocobo Lure materia?" Tifa prodded Cloud with the tip of her index finger as if she were trying to urge an answer from him._

"I…uh…" Cloud's sapphire eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah! Um, I gave it to Cid, because he was interested in breeding some chocobos of his own."

"Great." Tifa let out a groan, covering her wide, doe-brown eyes with one gloved hand. "Rocket Town is supposed to be where we're headed next."

Zeno crossed his arms over his chest, fixing his dark, stony gaze on Cloud. "So we aren't going anywhere?"

"I guess not," Cloud muttered reluctantly. "Yuffie, what are you doing?"

"Looking for the chocobo I released here years ago," Yuffie replied in a bare whisper. "Now sit down and shut up. There's a very slim chance that Ryu is still alive. And even if he is, he probably has a family of his own. Now, I know there's a rare female blue chocobo in this area, too—some of our hunters spotted her—and if Ryu might have gotten to known her…"

Cloud shook his spiky golden head regretfully. "She's off her rocker."

Cloud's comment almost made Tifa and Zeno think it was true when Yuffie suddenly crouched low to the ground and began making high-pitched, chirping noises. She crept forward in that position, a pose that would have been agony for any other person than a ninja in just a few moments. With her hand extended forward, she slid into a tall brush of grass nearby that was trembling slightly and emitting squeaks of some sort.

Complete silence followed.

Finally, Cloud decided that he had waited enough. "Look, Yuffie, did you find something or—"

Yuffie dashed out of the grass in mid-phrase, clutching a small, black bundle of fluttering feathers to her front. A look of utter panic was on her face as she worked her slender legs like pistons, eyes wide with surprise.

"—not," Cloud finished, watching Yuffie come to a sliding halt nearby, the mass of feathers still hugged to her. "Yuffie, what the hell is going—"

Once more, Cloud was interrupted in his sentence as a snarling, red-scaled creature dashed out of the brush, following Yuffie's tracks. Cloud didn't bother finishing his sentence this time; he simply grabbed his huge sword and twisted it around into a fighting position, ready to defend and attack.

"What is that thing?!" Tifa cried out as she ran forward to stand beside Cloud.

Cloud took a quick second to study the animal that hissed at them, fluttering ruby-colored bat-like wings that were clearly useless at its sides. It seemed like a miniature version of the breathtaking red dragon they had fought in the Temple of the Ancients years ago; stunted, mutated, and still deadly. 

"Some dragon of some sort," he responded. "Yuffie, do you know what it is?"

"It's a new species," Yuffie explained as she stayed to the back of the group, arms full already. "I think it just appeared; I got news of it from our hunters again. We call them 'Kajiha,' which roughly means 'fire tooth' in our language. And believe me, you don't want to find out why we call it that."

"So just kill it, right?" Cloud started to move forward, sword raised to strike the Kajiha that stood its ground, pale yellow eyes glinting dangerously.

"I wouldn't do that," Yuffie warned. "Use something long-range if you want to live, Cloud. Um…shoot…" Unable to reach for her throwing origami and shuriken, Yuffie started to back away, motioning with her head for the others to follow. "Let's leave it alone!"

"I don't think it wants us to do that quite yet," Cloud murmured as the Kajiha followed them instantly. "Do we have anything else long-range?"

"Done," a voice announced quietly at his side. Cloud had barely turned his head to identify the speaker when a flash of pure silver went flying by his head, burying itself in the Kajiha's neck. The creature let out a wet, gurgling howl of pain before it collapsed on the ground, unmoving.

Zeno strode forward and looked down at the dead animal. Finally, he prodded it cautiously with the toe of one boot.

The response was almost instantaneous. The Kajiha's head flew up and its malicious yellow eyes opened, glowing from within as they focused on Zeno. It opened its jaws and whipped its head around to point directly at the young man, a strange, blood red ball of light shooting out of its throat in a speed that was far faster than the blade that Zeno had thrown.

"Zeno, look—" Cloud began to shout, knowing that his warning wouldn't reach the boy in time.

Zeno dodged it.

In the time that it took for the fireball to leave the Kajiha's mouth and move with amazingly high velocity and speed towards Zeno, he had simply stepped to the side and twisted around slightly, letting the dangerous final attack blaze right past him and disintegrate into the air. Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie stared in utter shock at Zeno. They had known that the young man trained hard and that he was very, very fast, but they had never expected him to be _that fast._

Fast enough to step aside as a fireball moving at the speed of a bullet shot towards him, and fast enough for him to be completely unmarked. His lean form wasn't marred by a single scorch mark, much less the ash from the passing inferno. Even his long hair that would have surely been caught by the tips as he leaned away wasn't singed. Zeno wasn't breathing hard in the slightest, and the only emotion that registered in his light-swallowing eyes was of mild amusement.

"What a pathetic little animal," he muttered as he stepped past the gaping trio and moved to the clearly dead body of the Kajiha. "No one could have gotten themselves killed by that stupid little trick."

"Maybe you couldn't have, but at least one other person did," Yuffie said quietly. "That hunter who first reported the Kajihas died after he had gasped out his news on his last breath." She paused, and then elaborated. "He got caught by that final attack. And he was a very good hunter, too."

Zeno snorted softly as he reached down and yanked the dagger that had finally killed the Kajiha out of its neck. He frowned slightly as the blade came away covered with a strange, scintillating green liquid.

"Uncle Cloud," he finally asked, "what kind of blood is this?"

_"What kind of blood"? What kind of question__ is that, kid? Cloud thought as he moved to Zeno's side, sheathing his sword over his back. That response, however, fled his mind as soon as he saw the "blood" that covered Zeno's weapon from the bottom of the hilt to the viciously pointed tip._

"Good question," Cloud replied slowly as he took the dagger from Zeno and turned it around in the sunlight, watching the green substance shift in color tones and drip in soft plops to the ground. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this was Mako. I should know; I've swum in that junk before. But…if something like this…Kajiha…had it inside of it as blood, then how would it be able to live without getting Mako poisoning?"

"Maybe it _was poisoned to begin with," Tifa suggested, moving to peer over Cloud's shoulder. "That would explain its decrepit look, and the reason why it could summon up that huge final attack without completely burning its body. Its blood was completely Mako."_

"Hmm." Cloud thoughtfully cleaned the blade off on a leaf he picked up from the ground, letting the cleaning article flutter to the ground after he was done using it. He glanced down to make sure that the dagger was completely clean and got his first good look at it. Cloud's eyes widened involuntarily in complete surprise as he took in the foreign design. "Zeno, where did you get this?"

The dagger was a strange cross between a throwing knife and a fighting knife, which was a reason why Zeno had thrown it with such accuracy. If he had been further away, however, it might have been more difficult to get it on target. Its hilt was simple wood, carved to fit the holder's hand in an easy fighting or throwing grip and covered with a resin to protect it from wear. The blade itself, though, was like no other dagger Cloud had ever seen. It was long and well sharpened, but located at a little less than midpoint between the hilt base and the knife tip as well as near the hilt's base itself were sharply pointed hooks that curved towards the hilt. Each hook was located, one diagonally from the other, on the two edges of the double-sided blade. Their curved bottoms that pointed towards the blade tip were sharpened as well into an edge that could cut through anything just as easily as the blade itself. 

Zeno shrugged as he took the weapon back, sliding it easily back into his boot. Cloud watched as its hilt disappeared from sight into the depths of the boot top. "The blade smith in Wutai made it according to my own design. Basically…" he smiled briefly; not a smile of joy, but one of cold calculation. "Basically, it's supposed to hurt more coming out than it does going in. The hooks catch on the flesh well enough so that it takes a very hard jerk and a well-nerved person to get it out. Even then, it won't come out smoothly. The edges of the wound are pretty much torn, and it can often ruin a muscle or more when it comes out. You see, the hooks can grab a lot more than mere skin on the way out." He broke out into a strange, eerily familiar grin of twisted pleasure. "Sometimes it can cripple an animal for life. Of course, I've always made sure to finish off the animals I…practiced on."

Tifa shivered, and she wasn't the only one who did. "Zeno, that's…that's…" She bit her lip, trying to think of a way to gracefully finish her sentence.

"Wonderful," Zeno finished for her. "This kind of weapon can inflict even more pain than any other in the world. Perfect for an agonizing death, don't you think?"

"You are one twisted kid," Yuffie muttered under her breath. Cloud was the only one who caught her, but he couldn't help but agree. 

_Zeno is acting stranger and stranger as each day goes by…_

_ _

_He's acting more like you, Sephiroth. So much like you…_

_ _

_"Hey, Yuffie, what is that thing you're holding, anyway?" Tifa abruptly asked, startling Cloud back into reality._

Yuffie gently unshielded the little black-feathered body and lifted it carefully towards Tifa's curious eyes. "This is what the Kajiha was trying to eat when I sneaked in on it." Cloud and Zeno both leaned in as well to see, eyebrows raising in slight surprise.

It was a baby black chocobo—gawky, scrawny, and an obvious adolescent. Its feathers, although jet black like an adult black chocobo's, were more of a down than the stiff, elongated feathers of an adult. Here and there, patches of its down was missing, showing pale flesh underneath that was marred by bleeding scratches. Its eyes were huge and frightened and seemed to be out of place on the baby's still-growing bird head. Its long neck was completely pulled into the extra large fluff at the base of its neck so that it could safely peer up at the strangers from beneath wavy plumes.

Tifa immediately softened towards it as her feminine side came through. "Aw," she murmured gently. "It's only a baby." She reached out and gave it a faint stroke on its head that rustled the tiny spikes of feathers sticking out of that area.

"That's weird," Yuffie remarked with her old mischief sneaking back into her voice. "It has hair like Cloud. Now, if it was a golden chocobo instead of a black one…"

"Shut up," Cloud muttered, turning slightly red. He knew that his hairstyle wasn't exactly common, but having it compared to a chocobo was a little far!

"I think I'll name him Cloud Junior," Yuffie announced, keeping her teasing up relentlessly. "Junior for short. Too bad he won't be growing up anytime soon."

"But, Yuffie," Tifa objected, "how do you know it's a he?"

"Easy. I checked."

"And, um…what about his parents?"

"Parents? Like where?"

"Like _those parents, maybe?" Zeno suggested calmly, pointing a finger over Yuffie's shoulder. _

Yuffie froze as a thin, menacing gurgle emitted from the area that Zeno was pointing at. She turned around slowly, still holding baby Cloud Junior in her arms.

Standing there were two chocobos; a blue one and a green one. Both of their long necks were lowered angrily and their feathers practically stood up on their bodies. Their black eyes were narrowed with rage and focused on one person—Yuffie. Behind those two birds was two black chocobos, both apparently almost adults and both just as enraged as the first two adults.

"Uh, hi," Cloud said, waving his hands at the chocobos.

"Shut up," Yuffie shot back. She stepped forward and slowly lowered Cloud Junior to the ground, who peeped and raced under the legs of the blue chocobo. The green chocobo paced towards Yuffie until it stood about a foot away from the ninja. It lowered its head again, sniffing at the girl's hair and narrowing its eyes once more. 

"Uh…" Cloud began again, cut off short when Tifa elbowed him in the ribs.

The green chocobo let out a loud snorting noise and opened its huge beak that was a little smaller than Yuffie's head. It leaned forward and closed its beak on a lock of Yuffie's hair and began tugging away at it, feathers once more relaxed upon its body. With a happy squawk, it let go and rubbed its head against Yuffie's cheek, eyes closed in pure contentedness.

Yuffie exhaled, reaching up and scratching the bird's head with fingers that were almost weak from relief. "It's okay, guys. He's Ryu."

"So, um…do we have a ride now?" Cloud asked.

Yuffie glanced over her shoulder at him, smiling once more. "Of course. If I can get Ryu to speak with his mate and his kids…then we should be in Rocket Town by nightfall!"

[Return to Fanfiction][1]

   [1]: ..\Out%20of%20the%20Blue\OotBFanfic.doc



	9. Interlude

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Interlude

Bahamut leaned on the side of the mountain that loomed over his head, letting the overwhelming silence of the night dull out the sound of the waterfall that continuously flowed nearby. He looked up at the children of the night, admiring the way that they shone with such determination tonight.

_Which could mean a good thing or a bad thing._

_ _

_As he had half-expected, he was still blocked from the Planet, even at this place that touched the Lifestream so well. The force that was guarding the Planet's consciousness had all but killed him, almost drowning his mind in evil and pulling him under. It had taken sheer will and determination to drag himself out of the grip of the other mind, and now he didn't dare to try again lest he fall victim. Last time he had barely escaped with his life, and he wasn't ready to go through that suffocating ordeal again._

"Excuse me? Mr. Bahamut?" Aeris slipped up next to him, moving quietly andunnoticed by her target because he was so deep in thought.

Bahamut started and automatically drew his hood back over his head to hide his ears. After several encounters with humans, he took pains to keep his sharply pointed ears covered except when he knew that he was alone. And since Vincent had already known who he was, it hadn't really mattered if the man had seen his ears or not.

_But with Aeris…it might be better if she didn't know exactly who I was._

_ _

_"Yes?" Bahamut answered casually, as if he hadn't put his hood back up. _

Aeris remained standing, placing her arms behind her back and leaning down to look at Bahamut. "Is there something wrong, Mr. Bahamut? Why'd you cover your head all of a sudden?"

_Children of my heart. She's too naive…what was the Planet thinking, placing her spirit back into the living when she possibly wouldn't be ready emotionally for battle?_

_ _

_And then, as he met her Lifestream-green eyes, Bahamut thought again—_

_She's a child. She's still a child._

_ _

_"Mr. Bahamut?"_

Bahamut shook his head slowly, regaining control of his consciousness. "Just call me Bahamut, Aeris," he told her, flashing a quick grin that could be seen even from the depths of his hood. "I'm fine. Did you want anything?"

Aeris shrugged. "Well…I just had a question, Mr.—I mean, Bahamut."

"If it is within my knowledge, then I will answer it. Although it is beyond me why you would ask a stranger this and not your father…"

Aeris shook her head vehemently. "You're not a stranger, Bahamut! I don't know why, but…I feel like I've known you for years. For even longer then I've been alive, even. And…I sort of thought that…you would have the answer to my question, rather than my father." She hesitated, tilting her head shyly to one side, her movement still reminding Bahamut of a child.

Bahamut simply patted the grass next to him, indicating for Aeris to sit. "Speak your mind, Aeris. I'll listen, even if I can't answer."

Aeris cautiously lowered herself to the ground, spreading her dress' skirt underneath her legs. "Well…I was wondering…if you knew why the Planet wouldn't speak to me anymore." Bahamut stiffened slightly at the question, a movement so quick and subtle that Aeris didn't notice it. "I mean…ever since before I could remember, the Planet would talk to me. I…I used to think I was going crazy when I heard that voice in my head, but then…the voice would go away until I was ready to listen. Most of the time, the voice was soothing…sort of like my dad's, when he was trying to get me to calm down after I…skinned a knee, for example. But other times…it was all jumbled together. So garbled and frantic that I couldn't understand a single word what it was saying. Very rarely, maybe about once or twice since I started speaking with it, it was angry." She frowned, her brow furrowing in remembrance. "When the voice—the Planet—was angry, it scared me. It kept talking about something that didn't belong, and that I had to do something, but it never told me what. And then…it just sort of…died away until it wouldn't speak anymore, for maybe a month or so.

"And then…it got harder and harder to hear the Planet and understand what it was saying. Even though I tried to hear it and tell it that I couldn't understand it, it didn't respond. Eventually, it…just…stopped. I knew it was still there, I just couldn't hear it. It was sort of like trying to reach for something that's just beyond a glass wall. You can see that it's there, but you can't touch it. No matter how hard you want it."

Bahamut let out a hiss of air, closing his eyes. _That's like what happened to us. We could talk with the Planet, and then it got quieter and quieter until we couldn't hear it anymore. And then we had our suspicious._

_ _

_"At first, I thought the Planet was just angry again," Aeris continued, unaware of Bahamut's sudden silence. "When it didn't come back for longer than ever before, I asked dad what was wrong. He…he looked angry, and then sad for a moment. I'm not sure how to describe it—it was no emotion that I had ever seen on his face. He finally told me not to worry and that the Planet was probably just trying to deal with something at the moment. But…I didn't believe him. Eventually, even that little murmur that told me it was still there disappeared. Before it just…vanished, I got a feeling of fear and anger…more anger than fear, though. After that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't talk with the Planet anymore."_

"And what made you think that I could tell you?" Bahamut asked gently. "How could I have the answer? I'm only a man."

"No. No, you're not." Aeris turned her head to look at him just as he did as well, surprised at her answer.

"What makes you say that?"

Aeris tapped the upper portion of her temples. "It's in your eyes."

"And what do you mean, 'in your eyes'?" Bahamut asked, reaching up to touch the side of his face near the corner of his right eye. "I don't—"

"Bahamut, your eyes are…they aren't normal. They're like dad's, except for your pupils." She reached out and pointed at his eyes. "Have you ever looked at them closely? They're slit. Like an animal's."

Bahamut shrugged, drawing back. "And that's enough reason for you to say that I'm the one with an answer to an impossible question?"

"There's more," Aeris cut in. "Besides the fact that I feel like I know you already and your slit pupils, there's a strange look in your eyes. They're like…you've seen everything that can be possible and you know everything that there is to know." She regarded him with a quiet look. "They're the eyes of someone the Planet told me to watch for before it disappeared. Eyes that know everything…but are the eyes of no true human…" 

"The Planet told you this?" He was beginning to feel decidedly unsettled.

"A week before it began fading away."

_Why, oh why did you not tell me anything before you succumbed to that alien? Bahamut thought, half-pleadingly and half-despairingly. He dropped his hand back into his lap and sighed. "All right. I can't guarantee that I will tell you everything, but I will tell you all that you need to know."_

Aeris nodded gratefully, eyes glowing with happiness. "Thank you, Bahamut."

"What would you like to know first? Why the Planet doesn't speak to you anymore…or why you could hear it in the first place?"

"What? Hearing the Planet isn't…normal for humans?" Aeris frowned in confusion. "But…I thought…I mean, dad can hear it sometimes, too."

_Vincent can…? "Vincent isn't like you, Aeris," he finally said. "Maybe he can hear the Planet, but if he can, it's only because of the levels of Lifestream that intensify over here, perhaps acting as somewhat of a magnifying glass for him and the Planet's voice. But his 'ability' to hear the Planet isn't natural, like yours. Aeris…you aren't exactly a human. You," he continued, cutting off Aeris' look of surprise, "are the reincarnation of a very brave, honored woman who died a little less than five years ago. That woman's name was Aeris Gainsborough. Your father knew her, and fought by her side along with others before she was murdered by their mortal enemy—a particular madman bent on destroying everything on this Planet, up to and including the Planet itself. The reason why Aeris Gainsborough was killed and what she was is more important at the moment, however. This woman was the last surviving member of an old, old race that had mostly died out centuries ago. _

"They named themselves the Cetra, but were more commonly known among the humans as the Ancients. Much older than the humans themselves, you could perhaps call the Cetra humanoids. Unlike humans, the Cetra were linked closely with the Planet, which gave them the ability to hear and communicate with it. They were wanderers, too, moving from one place to another constantly in a nomadic style.

"There came people who didn't like the Cetra and the way they moved about all the time. These were the humans." Bahamut closed his eyes. "The Cetra and the humans grew into two feuding species, at each other's throats most of the time. Eventually, the humans began to overpower the more submissive Cetra, and drove them back into the far reaches of the Planet were humans were not inhabiting yet." He opened his eyes again, staring up at the stars. "And then, the Cetra made a mistake that finished their success as a specie."

Aeris glanced up at well and started in surprise when she saw Bahamut's eyes. They were glowing faintly with…grief? A touch of sadness thoroughly mixed with pity gleamed within the crimson orbs as well. "What…what happened?" 

"They accepted someone into their midst. Someone whom they thought was one of their own, but in reality, was far from that. A female not from this Planet, who traveled here with the sole purpose of destroying. She was an alien and carried within her a disease that was all the more deadly towards the Cetra rather than the humans themselves. Unaware until it was too late, the Cetra, greatly weakened from the virus, barely managed to seal the alien away within the Planet.

"But the disease had taken its toll on the Cetra. They scattered about the Planet, dying one by one until there was one left. Her name was Ifalna, and she made it all the way to the North where she met and married a man named Gast. Gast was no ordinary human, however. He was a scientist for Shinra, and had recently retired due to a…mishap. Together, they had a baby girl and were content until they were attacked by Soldiers, the Shinra dogs of war. This group was led by Professor Hojo. Gast was killed in the raid and Ifalna and her baby were abducted to the Shinra Headquarters, where they were examined by Hojo himself. It was only through a great feat of bravery and strength did Ifalna manage to escape, taking her child with her. 

"The escapade took a lot more energy than expected out of the already weakened Ifalna. She collapsed on the stairs of the Sector Five train platform in Midgar, where she was discovered by a lonely woman whose husband was away at war. Ifalna asked that woman to take care of her child, Aeris, before she died, making Aeris the last Cetra on the Planet. Aeris grew up in the Sector Five slums until she met Cloud Strife. From then on, she was whisked away and carried into the center of a disaster that involved her death and the near termination of the Planet."

"And…that's who I was?" Aeris asked softly. 

Bahamut nodded. "I will tell you more in due time. But…for now, I believe that that is enough."

Aeris fell silent for a few minutes before rising, turning to Bahamut to ask one more question.

"Then is my father…really my father?"

Bahamut looked up at her, his crimson eyes veiled by his hood. With a sad smile, he leaned back onto the ground and stared directly up at the stars.

"The revealing of your question is not my choice, Aeris," he replied quietly. "You will have to ask your father yourself."

Aeris turned and left, a troubled look in the depths of her Lifestream eyes. As Bahamut listened to her footsteps die away until the perpetual roar of the waterfall swallowed them in its wake, he sighed and closed his eyes to welcome the oblivion of sleep.

_Forgive me, Vincent._


	10. Lady Death

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Lady Death

Cloud slid off of his chocobo with practiced ease and turned to help Tifa off of the selfsame black-feathered back that they had been sharing. She supported herself on his shoulders and smiled her thanks as he placed her easily on the ground, the thick grass beneath helping to steady her landing.

The black chocobo, one of the teenaged chocobos of Ryu's brood, threw back its head and squawked cheerfully. It waited for Yuffie and Zeno to dismount from its sibling, large eyes blinking. Once its sibling was free, they both made their curious cooing noises and dashed back across the plain, heading towards the ocean and Wutai.

Yuffie waved like a lunatic at their departing backs, even though she knew just as well as the others that the two chocobos couldn't see her. "Say 'hi' to Cloud Junior for me!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Cloud sighed. "Yuffie, why the hell did you have to go and name that gawky little thing after me?"

The ninja stopped waving and turned to Cloud, sticking her tongue out at him. "I told you. He _looked like you."_

"So this' Rocket Town?" Zeno commented, staring up at the buildings in front of them. "And who lives here again?"

"One of our friends, Cid Highwind," Cloud replied with a quick grin. "We met him almost five years ago, and we haven't really seen him since. Actually," he added with a ponderous frown, "I wonder if he even remembers us."

"Who else would that oldie have to remember?" Yuffie commented slyly. "He's probably the true leader of Rocket Town by now. I wonder if he and Shera have gotten anywhere…?"

"Oh, Yuffie," Tifa groaned. "Please, don't even go there."

***

"The Captain? Oh, he's probably at the Highwind," the Shanghai Inn's owner said in reply to Cloud's question. He pointed in the general direction of where the huge airship was located. "Will you folks be staying here tonight?"

"Maybe a little later. Book a room for us, please. If we're not back by, oh…say about two hours from now, you can give the room up," Cloud told the man. "Put it under the name 'Strife.'"

"Strife," the man muttered as he wrote the name down in his check-in book. His eyes widened for a bare instant, and then he was staring back up at Cloud again with awed brown eyes. "Cloud Strife? The Captain's friend?"

"Er, yes, I suppose that would be me," Cloud muttered. 

"You…you stayed here before, didn't you? With your other friends! Maybe five years ago, before you…saved the Planet…" He turned his eyes towards Tifa and Yuffie, moving them past Zeno. "I think I remember these two ladies. Where're the others?"

Tifa smiled warmly. "We got a bit split up, but we're trying to get back together with them right now to show them our, um…newest addition to the 'family.'" She pulled Zeno out from the back of the quartet. "This' Zeno."

"Zeno?" The owner's eyes inspected the young man. "He reminds me of that other man, what's his name? The rather strange, quiet one with the red eyes."

"Who, Vincent?" Yuffie responded. "Yeah, sounds like a fair description to me."

"And what happened to him?"

Cloud shrugged. "We really don't know. He sort of disappeared not too soon after we…well, yeah."

The man shook his head slowly. "I'm not too surprised. You could tell from his stance that he didn't really belong in the group. There must have been some ulterior motive for him being there."

"How do you know so much, old man?" Yuffie demanded eagerly.

" 'Old man'? Hmm. Well, after seeing as many people as I have witnessed with these eyes…" He tapped the side of one of his eyes. "You get to learn how to observe people very well."

"What brought Vincent up, anyway?" Tifa asked curiously. Hearing what the man had to say made her gentle heart feel slightly ashamed that she had never tried to talk to Vincent. However, the mysterious man's chilling aura and the reminder of the dangerous power he carried within him kept Tifa well away from even greeting him.

"Well…I happen to know someone who reminds me of him. I was sort of wondering if they knew each other…Oh, I shouldn't delay you four much longer! Have a nice talk with the Captain, and I'll hopefully see you again in a couple of hours!" 

Cloud nodded at the hotel owner and herded his group out of the Shanghai Inn, heading towards the back of Rocket Town. In place of the leaning rocket that had given the village its name years ago, towered an airship with a motif written on the side of one gondola: _The Highwind._

Zeno stopped well within the shadow of the Highwind and simply stared up, showing the first amazement he had ever exhibited since they had left Wutai. "Wow. This is so…cool."

Cloud chuckled, remembering the exact same words he had said years ago, but of a different, smaller vehicle. "Let's introduce you to the pilot, kid. He'll probably be willing to give us a lift in it, too…well, hopefully." 

The group went up the ladder that led into a platform with a rounded bottom suspended from the mid-bottom portion of the Highwind. The only protection that helped prevent people from falling off was a guardrail traveling around the outer edge of the platform. Here, Yuffie found memories flooding back to her of spending her first few terrifyingly airsick minutes on the Highwind lying eagle spread on this same deck, too green in the face and queasy to move. Eventually, she had somehow managed to drag herself down to the cargo area of the Highwind, where she spent most of her time convulsing in misery.

"Memories, Yuffie?" Cloud teased when he saw Yuffie blanch at the sight of the familiar wooden deck.

"Oh, shut up, you pokey headed jerk," she muttered back, feeling airsick already even though her feet hadn't even left the ground yet.

"Excuse me. Can I help you?"

The woman emerging from the stairway that led into the cargo bay and cockpit of the Highwind had brown hair tied into a bun and wore a white lab coat. She stared at them with confused light brown eyes, as if she were trying to remember if she knew them from somewhere. "Do I…?"

"Shera!" Tifa exclaimed, running towards the older engineer. "How are you? How's Cid?"

Shera frowned as she examined the younger woman. "Wait…Tifa? Tifa Lockheart? Is that you?"

"Of course it is!" Tifa laughed. "Who else would it be, Shera?"

"Oh!" Shera looked past Tifa to the other three that still stood on the deck. "Then all of you are…Yuffie and Cloud? But who's he, then?" She turned to Zeno.

"We're going to introduce him to you," Cloud interrupted with a smile. "But first, we have to talk to Cid. Where is he?"

"The Captain's below in the cockpit," Shera replied, pointing downwards at her feet where the cockpit was presumed to be. "He practically lives there now. Follow me; I'll go see if he's busy or not!" 

The foursome trailed after the woman as she descended on the familiar metal stairs and led them over a ramp towards a separate room. Zeno kept turning his head as they passed by equipment and other storage, dark black eyes wide with amazement.

"Boys with their toys," Yuffie muttered in resignation. 

"Ya? What is it?" A gruff voice answered to Shera's tapping on a nearby control panel. A dirty blonde head poked up from the front of another control panel, where he had apparently been repairing something.

"Captain? There're some people here to see you," Shera replied patiently.

Cid Highwind slid out from behind the control panel, wiping his hands on an already oil-streaked cloth. "Yeah? They'd better have something pretty damn important, or I'll—" He stopped short as he stared at the people waiting behind Shera. "It's…"

"Cid!" Cloud called, smiling despite himself at the sight of the rough pilot. 

"Damn!" Cid roared, bounding forward with the energy of a teenager twice his junior. "Cloud! Hell, but it's good to see you idiots again!"

"Yeah, wonderful to see you, too, you moron," Yuffie shot back as she was whacked heartily on the back by Cid. "Oof! Take it easy, why don't you! Your dumb little airship here caused me enough pain in the past!"

Cid turned to Cloud, his grin widening as he caught sight of Zeno, who was half-hiding as usual behind the rest. "And who's this, Cloud? The kid looks like I'm going to eat him or something!"

Cloud dragged Zeno forward by the arm. "This kid's Zeno. Sort of my nephew, okay? Take it easy on him!"

"Nephew, huh?" Cid examined Zeno, chewing on a cigarette that hung out of the corner of his mouth. "Say, you look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

Tifa tapped Cid on the back, drawing the pilot's attention to her. "We'll talk to you about him later, Cid," she whispered in a tone that was low enough so that even Zeno didn't catch her. 

Cid nodded. "So, what brings you guys here? Just to introduce this kid to me?" He glanced at Cloud. "Knowing you, you probably want something…"

"Um, not exactly," Cloud bluffed. "Well, uh…it's sort of…personal."

"Hey, I get it." Cid turned to Shera. "Shera, can ya show the kid around the Highwind? It looks like he's dying to take a good look at the place. And get some tea while you're at it."

"Yes, sir," Shera replied, beckoning to Zeno. "Right this way, Zeno."

Zeno left, giving one suspicious backward glance at the group of old friends before leaving, the door sliding shut behind him.

***

"…So this is our mechanics room. It, um, needs its annual repairs, so please don't mind the mess…" Shera led Zeno into the room that was lined with huge metal canister-like machines that were completely silent at the moment. "Dusk?"

A dark-haired head of hair appeared from behind one of the "canisters," much in the same way that Cid's had from behind the control panel. However, this person was a girl in her early twenties and had the looks of someone who didn't come from anywhere in this area. "Yes, Shera?"

"Zeno, this is our head of the Highwind staff, Dusk Hart," Shera introduced. "Dusk, this is Zeno. He's sort of visiting."

Dusk rolled neatly out from behind the "canister" and rose, extending one hand towards the man. "Hello." 

Zeno took her hand and shook it, examining the girl carefully. She was slender and as graceful as a dancer, although she had the frigid air of a day deep within winter. Her appearance was of someone who belonged in the house of a noble rather than the mechanics room of an airship, clad in a protective coverall. Her hair was long and raven black, at the moment bound out of her way in a ponytail, and her eyes were a strangely glowing bloody red. Her face was icily pale, and the way her lips remained together suggested that she didn't smile very often.

_Why does she remind me of me? Zeno thought to himself as he released his grip. __She carries herself like a fighter, not a mechanic. And the way she moves…_

_ _

_"Motor Ten is finished, Shera," Dusk said, interrupting Zeno's observations. "Eleven and Twelve will be finished by early tomorrow."_

Shera nodded in satisfaction. "Take a break, Dusk. You've been working all day. Come on, you can help me show Zeno around, since you probably know this place better than me."

Dusk nodded in slow agreement, then turned and stripped off her worker's coverall, hanging it on a hook from a wall. Her outfit underneath was obviously not her best clothing; it consisted of a simple tank top-and-shorts combination. "Have you gone to the kitchens yet?"

"Ah, no. And speaking of which, the Captain is speaking with the other members of Zeno's group and asked for some tea." 

"The usual?"

"Probably."

Zeno continued his brooding as the two women led the way into the next room, his eyes resting on Dusk's back.

_She's hiding something, too…just like Uncle Cloud…_

_ _

***

"The kid's…what?" Cid stared at Cloud in complete shock. "You're kiddin' me, right?"

Cloud shook his head regretfully. "Unfortunately, no. There's a very good chance that he _is the reincarnation of Sephiroth. He doesn't know it yet, but he's starting to act more and more like…__him. How old do you think he is, Cid?"_

Cid chewed his cigarette nearly in half. "Huh? Well…mid-twenties, I'm guessin'."

"He's four and a half."

Cid dropped his already-extinguished cigarette. "_What?!"_

"He grew quickly not only in his mother's womb, but once he was born as well. Physically and mentally, he's about twenty-four. And…Cid, he's a deadly fighter." Cloud frowned slightly at the memory. "Hell, last time I sparred with him, he beat me to the ground with three moves. And…he's fast. He's more than fast; he's…I don't know. Faster than anything I've ever seen before."

"But his hair…"

"And his eyes? It doesn't really excuse anything. I mean, damn…his hairstyle is still the same. The bangs and the length, never mind that he keeps it in a ponytail. Zeno's no normal kid. He reads almost excessively, too, as if he's hungering after some knowledge that he can't get from us. And…" Cloud paused. "Well, he's had some dreams recently. He said that it was like someone was calling him, and then he got a vague image of a crater. More specifically, it sounded like the North Crater."

"Something's calling him to the North Crater?" Cid frowned. "What would it be? Jenova's dead, isn't she?"

"That's…what we think. But there's a bare possibility that she might not be," Tifa answered. "I've been thinking about it, and…What if that last Jenova we fought in the Crater wasn't really the last one? What if there was another piece hidden somewhere, and its grown back into a full Jenova? Just…waiting to strike."

Cid shivered. "Damn. And here I was thinkin' that you guys had some good news at last. Well…does the kid know Dusk?"

"Dusk? Dusk who?" Yuffie asked, wrinkling her brow.

"Dusk Hart, my head of the Highwind staff. She's…sort of strange, too."

"Like how?" Cloud questioned with the curiosity of any human meeting with foreign news.

"Well, she's…actually, she kinda reminds me of Vincent. You know, the stiff? Black hair, red eyes, fighter, ex-member of the Turks…"

"Who? Vincent or this Dusk person?"

"Both of them. They're so similar that it's uncanny. Just that Dusk is a girl, and Vincent's…well. She doesn't seem to have an artificial limb, though. Smart kid and one hell of a mechanic, but it's the way she arrived in Rocket Town that had me thinking."

"The way she arrived?" Tifa repeated. "How?"

Cid scratched the side of his head. "Well, this kid's got a bounty on her head. It's a bounty for murder…just like how most of the Turks have, too. Except…she's got a nickname on hers." His voice lowered as he spoke. "They call her Lady Death."


	11. Blood and Honor

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Blood and Honor

" 'Lady Death'?!" Cloud and Yuffie squawked simultaneously, managing to make a fairly good impression of the chocobos they had just been riding.

Cid nodded. "Yup. The wanted flyer Midgar sent out said that she's wanted for the murder of President Rufus Shinra and his father, the ex-President Shinra."

"But wasn't Shinra killed by Sephiroth?" Tifa wanted to know, managing to keep her head on despite Cloud and Yuffie's reactions.

"That's what you guys said, and that's what I thought. Which is why I let the girl stay in Rocket Town under a different name and working for me. See, I don't even know her real name. Just her nickname and the name she's going under right now. But I do know that she used to work for Shinra as a Turk a long, long time ago, probably around when Vincent was still working for them, too. I mean, she's not that old. Probably, oh, say…twenty-four?"

"That's the same age as Zeno!" Yuffie commented instantly.

"If she worked for the Turks, then that means that she was no pansy of a fighter and she had a brain, too," Cloud mused. "She probably specialized in sneak attacks and assassin tricks, seeing as that's what most of the Turks did—carry out the dirty work for Shinra. And…murdering Rufus? I would've said that he died when Diamond Weapon hit the Shinra Headquarters with that last blast. We know for sure that Sephiroth killed Shinra, at least. Who issued this wanted note, anyway?"

"Reeve, believe it or not," Cid replied grimly. "Here." He fished around in one of his pockets and withdrew a tattered piece of paper, handing it to Cloud.

Pasted there was a picture with a very young girl in its center with short black hair and dark brown eyes that fairly shone with cheerfulness, despite the stillness of the faded color picture. She was waving at the camera in her Turks business uniform, mouth open in a carefree grin. To one side stood another man in the selfsame Turks uniform, face the epitome of seriousness and hands held behind his back. His hair was a short black as well, and his eyes were a matching inky black shade. On the other side of the girl, almost cut out of the picture, was another man wearing the immaculately white lab coat of a scientist, too-short black hair framing a pale, thin face topped by glasses that hid staring yellow eyes.

Tifa drew in a breath as she stared down at the picture. "Cloud, isn't that the Icicle Area in the background?"

Cloud recognized the permanently snow-covered place as well, memories flashing back to him. Layers of snow were spread around the people in the picture with a clear image of one of the many mountains located in the cold region that made snowboarding so popular there. 

Yuffie gave a low whistle. "Wow. Would you read that description? Reeve makes it sound like she's a walking Death machine!"

Cloud moved his eyes down to the summary below, feeling his own glowing sapphire eyes widening in disbelief.

Everything Cid had told them was there, right from the girl being an ex-member of the Turks to her reward for her dead-or-alive defeat. Her crimes were almost anything a criminal became a criminal for, and her reward was astonishing. 

"Does Reeve even _have that much gil?"Cloud breathed in astonishment. "I know that he's been working on Midgar, but…"_

Yuffie grabbed the flyer out of Cloud's hands, squinting as she looked down at it." 'Lady Death,' all right. Hey, those guys in the picture with her…don't they look familiar?"

Cloud leaned the picture towards him and into the light. "That guy in the lab coat…Tifa, does he remind you of Hojo?"

"That _is Hojo!" Tifa exclaimed as she caught a glimpse of the man. "Well, in his younger days, anyway."_

"Then who's the other Turk?" Cid tapped the unidentified man's face.

"No idea," Yuffie muttered. She frowned and leaned closer to the picture. "Although he does look a little like…"

"Cid?"

The group bounced away from each other as Shera entered the room, carrying a tray of tea. Behind her was a young woman and Zeno.

"Hi, Dusk," Cid announced, giving a quick glance to Cloud. "How's the mechanics room coming along?"

The girl nodded. "I'll be back on it soon. There's two more to go."

Once more, Cloud was stunned. If Cid hadn't identified her, he would have never guessed that this ice lady was the Turk in the picture. Her eyes were no longer dark brown; instead, they were a threateningly glowing red, reminding Cloud of newly spilled blood. Her complexion had lost the warmth in the picture; now it seemed as though her skin belonged to a corpse's. 

Yuffie quickly squirreled the wanted flyer away into one of the pockets on her khaki shorts. "You're Dusk? Cid's told us a lot about you!"

Dusk turned her eyes onto Yuffie; eyes that uncannily reminded the ninja of a bird of prey eyeing up its next meal. "And you are…?"

"Um, I'm Yuffie Kisaragi. This is Cloud Strife, and that's Tifa Lockheart. We're sort of…Zeno's family."

Dusk shrugged. "I'm Dusk Hart. I work for the Captain."

Cloud raised an eyebrow at that. She hadn't even twitched an eyelash at the mention of their names, and her eyes, the most expressive part about her, remained quiescent. Most people had heard of the saviors of the Planet before and had ended up quite tongue-tied when introduced to them. 

Dusk turned back to Shera. "If you'll excuse me, I should be going back to work now." She nodded politely to Zeno and left the cockpit, heading back to wherever she came from.

"Excuse her attitude," Shera apologized. "She's usually like that, even to people she knows." She set the tray down on a nearby console. "Zeno, come on. There's still more to show you."

Zeno turned to Cloud. "Am I privy to what you were discussing?" he inquired.

Cloud shook his head casually. "Sorry, kid. Adult stuff."

"Ah." Zeno left with Shera.

Cid waited until the door slid shut before letting out a loud breath of air. "And he's supposed to be four and a half years old?" he asked incredulously.

"Um, yes. But I told you that he has the mentality of a twenty-four year old," Cloud explained. "And he reads a lot, too, so he picks up on vocabulary."

"And _that's the girl who was in that picture?" Yuffie demanded, barely waiting for Cloud to finish his reasoning. "That icicle that just left is the Turk girl?! No wonder she's called Lady Death! Yeesh! What an attitude! It's even worse than Vincent's, if that's possible!"_

Now it was Cid's turn to explain. "Well, you see…I think she's sort of been through a lot. She was chased all the way from Midgar to here by who knows what, and she arrived with a long sword in one hand that was completely covered with blood, both fresh and old. Dusk also collapsed as soon as she arrived. I didn't really want to press her for details."

"Long sword?" Cloud asked, unconsciously stiffening his spine. The memory of his most hated enemy and the destruction that man had caused with his weapon, which had happened to be a long sword, surfaced once more in his mind. 

Cid shook his head. "Not Masamune, Cloud."

Cloud relaxed a slight bit. "Hmm. Hey, weren't we supposed to check in with the Shanghai Inn? What time is it?"

Cid glanced down at the watch he wore over one wrist. "Uh, five minutes 'til seven."

"Damn. Well, we've got to check in with the guy in five minutes. Are you coming, Cid?" Cloud asked.

"Um…let's talk again tomorrow. I'm not ready to close up yet. Oh, and I'll send Zeno over once he and Shera are done touring the Highwind. So don't worry about the kid, okay?"

"Thanks!" Cloud grinned at his friend and stepped out of the room. "See ya tomorrow!"

***

Dusk rose from her flat-on-the-ground work position, rubbing the back of her neck and stretching. With audible cracks, she proceeded to pop her stiffened vertebrae one by one from the bottom to the top of her spinal column. 

_Ahh…well, Motor Eleven is done, at least. I guess I'll get Twelve done tomorrow. _

_ _

_She sighed, slipping out of her coverall and hanging it back up on its hook. Moving over to the doorway, she deftly turned the power switch off and shut the door behind her, locking it securely. As Dusk padded down the rickety stairs that led deeper into the Highwind, she slipped the key over her neck on its chain next to another necklace that already lay there. It was a charm made from a deformed crystal of materia, no bigger than her thumbnail and the color of snow. She had found it long ago and had had it for as long as she could remember…_

…Which wasn't very far back.

Dusk opened the door to her little room within the depths of the Highwind, which accommodated her resting place. The Captain had provided it for her when she had adamantly refused to set foot outside of the Highwind, where a suspicious town that she had never visited before awaited. She didn't know why, but she got a distinctly uneasy feeling whenever she saw that place—as if she could still sense Shinra moving about.

She closed the sliding door behind her and collapsed onto her pallet, kicking her boots off and lying completely on top of it. After a moment of complete silence, she rose again and scooted to a corner that held a small chest and had a long, wrapped object lying against a side of a wall. Dusk sat down and opened the chest, staring at the contents.

She fingered the pile of clothing, then slowly pushed them aside until she reached the very bottom. Carefully folded and shielded from the faint light emitting from a flickering lamp was a navy blue business outfit. She picked it up and shook the top out, smoothing down the buttons and touching the blouse underneath. 

Memory hit her like a punch, both painful and strong. Just two months ago, this same outfit was completely covered with splashes of blood. It was almost hanging off of her, too, due to a large sword swipe that had not only scored on her but on this article as well. She had barely managed to crawl into the nearest shelter she could find, dragging herself through thick grass and leaving a trail of her own blood mixed with other's behind. Scared and shaking with the loss of blood, she had fallen unconscious only to awaken with two people bending over her. One was a woman, the other a man, both faces unknown to her.

_…I couldn't find him…But…he promised that he would be there for me when I woke up…_

_ _

_Dusk abruptly shoved the old uniform back into the chest, covering it with layers of her donated clothes and closing the lid. She leaned against the wall, staring at the slender object covered in swathes of cloth that leaned in sympathy with her. She searched her memory, trying to go further back, to before she fell asleep and woke up alone. But she couldn't do it—all she remembered was her lifelong friend's face staring down at hers as she sunk into a watery fluid, mouth moving in a soundless promise that she could still make out before her eyes closed._

_"Don't worry…I'll be waiting for you, right here, when you wake up."_

_ _

_"…I promise…"_

_ _

_Tears, the first that Dusk had experienced in a long time, trickled down the sides of her face, running along the edge of her jaw before meeting at the tip of her chin and dripping into her clasped hands. _

_You promised…But where are you…?_

_ _

_Am I…all alone…now?_


	12. Tomorrow...

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Tomorrow…

"Borrow the Highwind?" Cid stared at Cloud. "What for?"

"We need it to get to, um…the place in question." Cloud rubbed the back of his neck, feeling Zeno's piercing eyes fastened there. "You know. North?"

"Any reason why you can't take the Tiny Bronco?" Cid gestured in the direction where the little airplane rested behind his house.

"It can't fly," Cloud replied with perfect logic. "It's still broken, and we sort of need to get North in a one-shot thing without having to go through the…City of the Ancients, Icicle Inn, Gaea's Cliff, and miles of freezing land. We're already definitely going to have to climb a lot as it is." He sent the older man a silently pleading look, one that had started back when he had mentioned the City of the Ancients. _I'm…not ready to face Aeris' ghost again…_

_Cid sighed gustily. "All right. But I'm coming with you, you hear? I'm not so old that you're gonna leave me out of this whole shebang."_

"Captain!" Shera appeared in the doorway to the Highwind. "I'm coming too!"

"No, not you, Shera," Cid corrected, more gently than he ever had before. "You're going to have to watch Rocket Town for me. We'll take Dusk with us, though."

Shera paused, thinking. "Yes…that might be the right choice. All right, then!" She ran forward, giving Cid a quick hug which definitely surprised both the man and his companions. "Take care of yourself! I didn't watch you all these years just to let you get killed, okay? At least this hopefully isn't going to be another mission-for-the-Planet's-survival!" She ran out of the door, apparently to clear the Highwind and notify Dusk of her mission.

Yuffie coughed. "Little does she know," she mumbled, keeping her voice low enough so that no one but herself heard her. 

***

Dusk slid the earphones over her head, adjusting the microphone suspended from a wire attached to one of the earphone's ends so that it hung in front of her mouth. "Testing all communication units," she spoke through it, fiddling with one of the volume control switches. "Testing…"

"Does she know how to pilot the Highwind?" Cloud muttered to Cid as they both watched the girl run a test through each of the facilities of the airship. 

"Of course," Cid whispered back. "Would I be trusting her with the welfare of my Highwind otherwise?"

"All personnel secure for liftoff," Dusk continued once she had finished with the tests. "Highwind cleared. All of crew in position?" She paused for a moment, receiving the multi-voiced replies of affirmative. "All of crew cleared. All passengers ready?" 

Cloud paused, then started as Cid elbowed him in the ribs. "Uh, yeah. I mean, affirmative," he said through the earphone's microphone similar to the ones Dusk sported. He turned the microphone's face away from his mouth and glanced at Cid. "These things are new."

Cid grinned. "Aren't they? All clear, pilot."

There was a crackling noise in his ears, and then Cloud picked up the sound of Tifa responding in like over the transmission.

_"All clear here, too! Hey, Cloud! Can you hear me? Isn't this neat?"_

_"Cleared."_

_"Ugh…all…clear…boy, this brings back memories…"_

_Cloud smiled slightly when he heard the last response. That was Yuffie, no doubt getting herself reacquainted with the Highwind._

"All passengers cleared," Dusk finished. "Prepare for takeoff." She tapped her fingers on a few buttons, pulled a switch up, and carefully grabbed the Highwind's controls. 

Cloud's heart felt like it was sinking as the huge airship slowly rose into the air with the sound of engines roaring even through the earphones he wore. Dust could be seen even through the cockpit's front window, rising in a billow of tan clouds and dispersing almost as quickly as they appeared.

"Coordinates set," Dusk announced. "Travelling northward and landing at approximately 1300 hours. Affirmative, Captain?"

"Affirmative, pilot," Cid nodded. "Take her on."

"Received affirmative." Dusk finished her test and typed in another code on a nearby console, shifting the Highwind into a forward propulsion. With a roar of changing engines, the Highwind moved smoothly forward and began heading away from Rocket Town.

Yuffie closed her eyes and groaned as she felt the wind beginning to whip by her face. She was once more on the top deck, lying spread on her back and feeling completely miserable.

_And I was hoping that hell wouldn't come back for me again…_

_ _

***

"No. This isn't working." Bahamut rose in frustration, pacing back and forth against the edge of the lake. Aeris and Vincent both looked up at him in silence, watching the man walk around. "I need a place closer to the Lifestream. Even closer than here…and that would be…" He snapped his fingers. "Of course. Why didn't I think of that before?"

"Think of what, Mr. Bahamut?" Aeris asked curiously as she played absently with a tiny flower in her hands.

"The North Crater! It's even closer to the Lifestream…which will make my job easier, if a little risky." Bahamut frowned for a moment. "And how do I get there?"

"The North Crater?" Vincent questioned, breaking the man's reverie. "Isn't that a little dangerous, Bahamut?"

Bahamut shook his head. "Yes, it is. But it also means a higher chance of me getting in contact with the Planet…and finding out what's wrong." He picked up his staff that had been previously lying on the grass, adjusting its grip in his hand. "I'll be going now."

"Wait!" Aeris leapt to her feet, the petals of the flower she had been picking at scattering among the grass. "Mr. Bahamut—"

"I thought I told you to just call me Bahamut," Bahamut frowned at her. "And what is it?"

"Bahamut, let me go, too!" Aeris' request made her father whip his head around and stare at her with sharp red eyes. "I want to know!"

"Aeris," Bahamut began gently. "Child, it's too dangerous for you. Especially when you're the last hope this Planet has."

_What did you tell__ her last night, lizard? Vincent thought hard in Bahamut's direction, getting the feeling that he could pick it up. In response, Bahamut simply turned his head slightly towards Vincent and shrugged._

"And how can I be the last hope if I don't know anything?" Aeris demanded stubbornly. "Bahamut, I don't want to know…I _need to know! For the sake of myself and the Planet! There's so much that I don't know yet, and even more that is essential to surviving! __How am I supposed to be the last hope if I sit here and wait for disaster to fall on top of me?!"_

Bahamut stopped, seeming to be deep in thought. Finally, he sighed. 

"Because your words have merit, you may come, Aeris. But I will be responsible for all of your actions, and that means that I'm your guardian from now on. Please…don't do anything that will risk endangering yourself beforehand."

Aeris nodded. "I understand, Bahamut."

"Then I'm coming, too," Vincent spoke abruptly, voice hard with his decision. He glared defiantly at Bahamut as the Summon tried to stall him. "And you know why, Bahamut. It's my duty just as much as it is Aeris'."

Bahamut's shoulder slumped in defeat. "I have no choice. Very well; but if either of you get into trouble, remember—_I am responsible for everything. And no matter what I'm doing at the time, I will always be obligated to come and aid you."_

"How do we get there?" Aeris asked eagerly, ready to see the world that had been shut off from her for all of her life.

"The same way that I got here." Bahamut put one finger to the side of his head. "I'll think us there."

"What?" Aeris asked intelligently.

"It's…magic of a sort. I'll explain it to you later, perhaps. For now…both of you, grab a hold of my hands." He extended one hand to each person. "And join hands with each other. This might be a little harder on me since there're two more people, but if I can use your energy as well and distribute it…"

Aeris followed his directions, not even flinching when her hand met with Vincent's cold mechanical one. She waited in anticipation, anticipation that her father felt with slight sadness.

_She's growing up, Vincent though to himself. __And I can't keep her inside of a little bubble anymore…_

_Bahamut closed his eyes, his head falling to his chest. "Brace yourselves," he murmured, and then their world was surrounded by a flash of light so bright that it was no wonder Bahamut had shut his eyes. _

And then everything slowly speckled out into darkness that was so overwhelming it took hold of all of their senses…

***

_Damn…_

_Aeris? Vincent?  
Where are they…?_

_There!_

_…Have to…make it…the link…_

_…Got it…_

_Hold on, little ones…_

_We're almost…there…_


	13. Convergence

Chapter Thirteen 

Chapter Thirteen 

Convergence

Yuffie staggered into the cockpit of the Highwind, looking utterly miserable and ready to throw up any minute. Tifa, Zeno, Cloud, and Cid glanced up from their positions near a window, staring at the literally green-faced ninja as she slumped into a spare chair.

"Well…I took your advice…you pokey headed jerk…and I walked around…even though I felt…lousy…" She opened her eyes weakly and pointed a finger at Cloud. "Don't you ever…ever…_ever…give me advice like that…again. 'Cause I'm not…gonna…follow it."_

"Oh. Well…what can I say? It works for me…" Cloud shrugged. "Look, we're almost there, Yuffie."

"Don't…even…suggest…looking out of a window…" Yuffie made a strange, strangled noise.

"Oh, my God! If you even think about losing your stomach in my cockpit…" Cid began, recoiling away from the window and wheeling around to face Yuffie with a look of horror on his face.

"Prepare for landing," Dusk interrupted, busily flicking switches and inputting new settings into the Highwind's computer.

Yuffie's eyes rolled to the back of her head. "Oh, gods, if I live through this…I swear that I will never…fly again…"

"Landing coordinates set, Captain," Dusk continued, ignoring the ninja's groans. "Affirmed?"

Cid took a quick check outside of the window. "It's a forest. Are the Highwind's landing gears stable enough for that?"

"Stable enough, Captain. I fixed them the other day."

"Then proceed, pilot."

"All crew prepare for landing," Dusk warned quickly before shifting the Highwind into a downward movement. Cloud peered out of the window and watched leaves get sucked into the updraft of the Highwind, plastering themselves against the window and getting shredded in the engines. There was a slight bump that was accented by a loud complaint from Yuffie, and then the Highwind made the distinct shutting down noise as its engines became quieter.

"Landed," Dusk said. "Orders, Captain?"

Cid took the earphones off of his head as he spoke. "Just tell 'em to stay one board and be ready at all times for taking off, pilot."

While Dusk relayed the message, Cloud idly checked the edge of his sword and watched Tifa unconsciously stretching her legs out while flexing her fingers. Cid opened a side closet installed in the Highwind and pulled out his old spear that he had used years ago.

"Just in case," he explained at Zeno's blank stare.

Dusk turned in her seat and got up, pulling her earphones off and for the first time revealing the outfit she wore. It was not the work clothes she had been wearing yesterday; instead, they were the neatly pressed business suits of the Turks. Its appearance picked at Cloud's memory, reminding him of the three annoying members of the Turks he had fought many times in the past.

_I wonder what became of them, anyway?_

_"Uh, Dusk…the uniform?" Cid asked, staring pointedly at his pilot's choice of clothing._

Dusk shrugged. "This is what I travel in, Captain, as you probably know." She leaned over a console and picked up a loosely wrapped, long, slender object that seemed to be a staff of some sort. At Cid's second questioning look, she added, "Just in case."

"Cid, what's going on?" Yuffie asked tiredly as she got up from her own position. "And why the hell is she dressed like that?"

"Um…" Cid coughed. "Apparently, Dusk is going with us." He then glared at the girl, a look that would have made any lesser person quail in fright. "You stay out of trouble, okay?!"

Dusk nodded. "Affirmative," she replied, sounding very much like a robot.

"Okay, let's unload," Cid announced to the others. Cloud sneaked a quick look at Zeno, slight apprehension in his mind.

As the group stepped out of the confines of the airship, Zeno immediately looked around, examining the forest and then moving his eyes up to the huge crater. At the moment, all he could see was the crater's lip that extended above their heads like a mountain range that circled back onto itself. His eyes narrowed slightly before returning to their normal state of cool indifference.

_This is where we have to start being careful, Cloud thought. __There's not telling what the kid will do…_

_"Okay, we're going to have to climb a bit here, folks," Cid announced. "I hope you're all in shape for this."_

"Is that a challenge?" Yuffie inquired sneakily. "I accept, you old man!"

"Oh, old man, is it?" Cid returned, keeping in step as he began up the side of the crater. "Let's go, squirt."

" 'Squirt'?" Yuffie muttered as she followed. "That's new…"

***

Aeris moaned and turned her head slightly as she curled up on her side. _Oh…it's so hot today…did I oversleep again? It's probably noon, judging from the heat…_

_She moved a hand to reach for the blanket that she had apparently kicked off during the night. When patting her hand around in several placed proved fruitless, she sighed and gave up on it._

_Why does my head hurt so much…? Ow…_

_"Aeris?"_

"D-dad?" she responded sleepily in a voice under her breath, refusing to open her eyes. "I'm sorry…I'm so tired…just a few more minutes, okay…?"

"Aeris…wake up."

"Dad…" she groaned. "Come on…just a couple more…minutes…and then I'll be up…"

"Aeris!" Now there was a slightly frantic note in the person's voice.

That urgency was all that made Aeris slowly flutter her eyes open, immediately flinging an arm over her eyes as a ray of sunlight hit her eyes. "Ow…my head…Dad?"

"Aeris?" Her father's face appeared over hers. "Are you all right?"

"Not really…my head hurts a lot," she mumbled. "Dad…I had the weirdest dream. Someone was calling to me…but I didn't know who…"

"Shh. Just sit tight, okay? You can rest for a few more minutes."

Aeris closed her eyes again, fighting against the pounding headache that threatened to engulf her mind back into darkness again. Suddenly, she heard her dad shifting to his feet and the click of his gun being cocked.

"Bahamut," he said in a warning voice, "we've got company."

There was the noise of another body moving forward next to Vincent. "Strange. Who would be trying to hike up the side of the North Crater?"

"Your eyes are sharper than mine. Can you make them out?"

"Hmm…not yet. I can hear them coming up, though, but they're pretty much hidden by all of that foliage right there. I don't think they're expecting anyone to be up here."

"That much is obvious, judging from the amount of noise," Vincent replied dryly. "They're not very discreet. Can your staff do much damage?"

"Enough," Bahamut responded grimly. "Ah, here they come." There was a pause, and then a startled intake of breath. "Oh, goodness. That's a face I certainly didn't expect to see."

"Why? Who is it?"

"None other than one of your past allies…Yuffie Kisaragi."

"What the hell? Why is that kid up here?"

Now Aeris could pick up on a young girl's voice shouting exultantly. "I'm winning, you old man!" the girl was yelling. "Ha-ha! You're out of shape, aren't you?! You'd better fork over some good materia!"

There was a vehement curse that Aeris had no idea what the meaning was. "You little brat! When I get my hands on you…"

"Nyah!" the girl taunted. Her voice got closer, and all of a sudden her footsteps skidded to a halt. "What the…?!"

"Hello, Yuffie," Vincent replied coolly. "It's been a while."

"Oh, my," Bahamut muttered as the next bunch of people emerged from the trees. "Would you look at that. Cid Highwind, Cloud Strife, and Tifa Lockheart, all looking slightly out of breath."

"I told you that they were getting old," the girl identified as Yuffie replied snippily. "Wait a darned minute…who the hell are you?!"

"Hush up for a second, child," Bahamut responded.

"Hey! I'm no 'child'!"

"Yuffie…shut up, please," Vincent requested mildly. 

"Hmm…that's strange. Now who are those two others following them? I don't believe I've ever seen them before…" Bahamut made another gasp of surprise. "Oh dear. Perhaps I do know one of them." He made a noise that sounded as if he were turning to Vincent. "Vincent, keep your gun ready. But don't discharge it until I either give you the signal or immediate danger is threatening. And I do mean immediate danger."

"Can I talk now?" Yuffie's voice asked.

"No. Shut up," Vincent told her. There was a slight edge to his voice that Aeris readily identified, but it was not directed to the strange girl. It was more of a tense thing that was radiating out in general at anything it could grab a hold of.

"Ugh…I _am getting too old for this," a new voice groaned. It belonged to a man with a voice much older than anyone's Aeris had ever heard before, with the possible exception of Bahamut's. "Oh, hey…what the hell? Vincent?! What're you doing up here?!"_

"I could ask the same of you, Cid," Vincent returned evenly.

"And who the hell are _you?!"Cid continued, apparently directing the question towards Bahamut._

"No one of much importance to you," Bahamut said. "Now go stand next to your friend there and settle down."

"Fat chance! And the day that little thief is my friend is the day that—"

"Cid. Please. Shut up," Vincent growled.

There was another pause. "Fine, fine," Cid's voice grumbled as it moved to another direction. "Jeez…what got on _his case?" he muttered._

"Don't ask me," Yuffie whispered back. "I'm still trying to figure that out."

Now a young, strong voice arrived, heralding the footsteps of another man. "Last time, we had the Highwind get us up here," he was grumbling. "Maybe the new equipment got rid of its hovering ability. Either that, or Cid forgot that it could even hover. Hey, Tifa! It's not too far n—whoa."

"Get over there, Cloud," Vincent said before Cloud could comment further. "And do please keep your mouth shut if you value your life."

Wisely, the Cloud person did not argue as his footsteps moved away from where Vincent was standing.

"Oh, I hope you're right, Cloud," a woman's smooth voice panted. There was a scrambling noise and the sound of dirt being shifted, and then a tiny exclamation of "oh, my. Vincent. What a…surprise."

"Nice to see you too, Tifa. Now move so that those other people can come up."

Tifa's footsteps moved over to where the others were, the woman muttering under her breath. "Well. We don't see him for five years and the first thing he tells me to do is move."

"Yeah, same thing here," Yuffie agreed. "Although what else can you expect from Mr. Vampire himself?"

_"Mr. Vampire"? Aeris thought. __Just who are __these people? They seem to know dad very well…_

_"Who are these people?" Bahamut murmured under his breath. "That boy…and the girl…"_

Vincent let out a strangely muffled choked sound. "What the…" Now it was his turn for his voice to sound completely dumbfounded.

The Yuffie girl snickered under her breath, as if she were barely holding back a comeback. And Aeris had a good idea what that comeback would be, too.

_"Vincent! Shut up!"_

_Oh…that girl better keep her mouth shut…Dad doesn't sound in the best of moods right now…_

_"Hello. Who are you?" a young man's voice asked._

"I am Bahamut," Bahamut replied guardedly. "And you?"

"I am called Zeno." The voice got softer. "Do you need help, Dusk? Be careful on that area over there. The rock is a little unsteady."

"Thank you, Zeno," another woman's voice replied. Another sliding noise came, and then the sound of someone dusting their hands off on their pants. "Well." Yet another pause came, and then the woman's voice came back in a faltering, disbelieving tone. "…Vincent…?"

"Aya!" Vincent breathed. "Aya, is that you? What are you…? How…?"

"Aya?" Yuffie repeated. "Who's Aya?"

Aeris decided that she had born the suspense long enough. With a suppressed sigh, she hoisted herself to her feet and stood there, blinking owlishly in the sunlight while her eyes adjusted. 

Once they did, she found seven pairs of eyes staring at her. Two she knew, but the rest were people she completely didn't know…

…Or did she?

The woman closest to her father had long black hair pulled back into a ponytail, one long bang obscuring one of the crimson eyes that were strangely echoing her father's. Her face and figure were slender and almost morbidly pale, and she wore a business-like suit that seemed a bit out of place on a mountain climbing expedition. The youngest girl was obviously Yuffie, as the girl's face completely matched her tone of voice. She had a saucy, mischievous expression in her slanted brown eyes. Her hair was dark brown and very short, tied back with a headband whose ends fluttered behind her shoulders. 

The eldest man of the strangers had light blonde hair and wore a pair of goggles over his forehead. He carried a spear over one shoulder that was at the moment hanging slackly (along with his jaw) as he stared at Aeris. The woman at the end of the line had long, warm brown hair tied loosely in a tail and wide doe-like eyes that were just as surprised as the older man was. The man in the middle of them was the most strikingly familiar, right from his burnished gold, spiky hair to his faintly glowing ocean-deep eyes. He was completely shocked and kept looking Aeris over in amazement and disbelief.

_He looks like he's seen a ghost, Aeris thought amusedly._

The last man was almost the same age as the sapphire-eyed man. He was strange and eerily familiar as well. His hair was long and dark black, tied back into a ponytail while two bangs hung in eyes that swallowed everything, including light, into their depths. He was very tall, almost reaching the same height as Bahamut, and had the slender muscles of a fighter even though he bore no weapons visible.

_…Who is he? Aeris wondered. __And all of these people…do I know most of them, too?_

_ _

***

If seeing Vincent standing at the top of the crater was surprising enough, Cloud almost fell back down the crater's side in shock when the next surprise rose from the ground.

_Aeris?!_

_The girl was a mirror image of the old Aeris that Cloud knew. Her hair was bound back into a braid and was a wavy chestnut brown, two bangs rebelliously hanging from her head. Her sweet, angelic face was the same, too, and the girl's posture, although tired, looked the same as Aeris'._

And the eyes…

_Oh, God…her eyes…_

_They were the same eyes he had fallen in love with years ago. Guileless, completely innocent, and wide as if she were permanently startled. And green, the color of the Lifestream, large and so deep that he could fall into them all over again. Eyes that told him that this was Aeris, that it could be no other girl, and that, somehow, she was standing in front of him once more._

As if sensing his shock, Vincent turned to him. "Is there something wrong with my daughter?" he asked with the defensive pride any parent with a grown child exhibited.

_What the… "daughter"? Her? But she's…she's… Cloud's mind ran in circles like a trapped butterfly._

"Aeris," Vincent continued. "Allow me to introduce these people. This is Cloud Strife" Cloud nodded stiffly in response, "Tifa Lockheart, Cid Highwind, Yuffie Kisaragi, and…" He indicated Dusk, who stood beside him. "This is—"

"Dusk," the girl interrupted. She looked up at Vincent sadly when he glanced down at her in surprise. "Dusk Hart."

_Wait a second…didn't Vincent call her by a different name earlier?_

"This is Dusk," Vincent finished as if he had not just been interrupted. He glanced over at Zeno. Cloud barely knew Vincent well enough to know when he was becoming tense. "I do not know him, however."

"This is Zeno," Cloud introduced. He shrugged. "Something of my nephew."

Zeno nodded politely in Aeris' direction, eyes avoiding hers. There was a slightly troubled look in Aeris' eyes. __

_"And who's this?" Cloud asked, pointing towards the stranger. He was almost completely swathed and hidden beneath the folds of a dark cape and hood._

"I am called Bahamut," the man replied carefully.

_"Bahamut"? Cloud frowned. __Isn't that—?_

_"And what are you doing up here?" Bahamut continued, disengaging Cloud from his thoughts._

"I suppose you could say that we're doing a little research," Cloud replied evasively. "And what are you three doing up here?"

Bahamut smiled, revealing slightly pointed teeth. "You could say that we're doing a little research as well," he returned. His smile disappeared as he leaned closer to Cloud, indicating Zeno with a quick jerk of his head. "Cloud, why are you travelling with…_him?"_

"Because it's his right to be here," Cloud countered the probing question with. "And because…he's why we're here." He nodded in Aeris' direction, ignoring the curious look the girl was sending him with her wide green eyes. "And what's she doing here…Bahamut?"

"It's her right as well," Bahamut responded softly. He backed away from Cloud and turned to the two groups, regarding them as one unit. "From here on, we will be travelling together," he announced. He turned to Zeno, then to Aeris, Dusk, and Vincent. "And I suggest that you get over your differences while we head into the Crater." 

"Hold it! Who died and made you the boss, anyway?" Yuffie asked, being as irritating as she was normally.

Bahamut turned and stared at her, showing her his steely crimson eyes.

"I did."


	14. What Won't Fade

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

What Won't Fade

As Bahamut led the way into the depths of the Crater, Vincent found himself falling in step with "Dusk", his eyes involuntarily traveling back to the profile of the girl dressed in the uniform of a Turk. She made no attempt to acknowledge his presence, keeping her own eyes fastened to the weaving path Bahamut picked out.

_What do I say to her? Vincent thought, biting his lower lip in a rare gesture of the showing of his nerves. __"Hi, sorry I never made it back, Hojo did the same thing to me as he did to you"? Or, maybe… His lips twitched into an unseen humorless smile. __"My, the weather's been sort of chilly lately, hasn't it?"_

"Aya," he abruptly said, almost bringing the girl to a sudden halt as she worked her way down the rocky incline.

"I thought I told you that my name is Dusk," she shot back, resuming her downward movement. "Aya died a long time ago."

"Why, Aya?" Vincent asked, ignoring the chilling look she sent over her shoulder at him. "What…what did Hojo do to you?"

Dusk made a barely perceptible noise of disgust. "Don't ask me. I don't know. All I know is that when I woke up, I looked like this, and…" she glanced back at him again. "You weren't there. No one I knew was there."

"I…" Vincent swallowed, unused to saying what he was about to say. "I'm sorry. Hojo—"

"Don't," Dusk replied, waving a hand back at him. "I know that whatever he did to me…he did to you, too. You don't have to explain anything, Vincent. It's in your eyes."

Vincent leaned over to help Dusk down a short drop, catching sight of a tiny, misshapen charm of some sort that swung into sight on a silver chain hanging around the woman's neck. "What's that?"

"This?" Dusk fingered the item in question absently for a moment before tucking it back into her shirt. "It's some sort of materia, I think. So I didn't have it on me before I was…?"

"No. I can't remember," Vincent responded as he easily took the drop in one smooth jump. He turned around to give Aeris a hand down when he saw Zeno already taking that job, carefully supporting Aeris as she landed lightly onto the ground. Feeling slightly uneasy but unable to pinpoint the reason, he turned away and caught up to Dusk. "It's white. I don't think I've ever seen white battle-type materia before…"

"Yeah. That's why it's so strange." Dusk shrugged. "It was with me when I woke up, though. I've never taken it off since, and I probably never will. I've had it for so long since I escaped that it feels like a part of me somehow."

"A part of you…" Vincent shook his head. "I'm certain that I've never seen it before, though."

"Nevertheless, I'm keeping it." She tilted her head to one side. "What's happened to Shinra, Vincent? Are they still going? What about the Turks? And…is Hojo still alive?"

"Shinra…died five years ago, along with Hojo and most of Midgar. It was taken over by a man named Reeve Sith, one of Cloud's…friends. And the Turks…you know that we weren't exactly the cleanest bunch in the Shinra faction. All of the Turks that are still alive have an alive-or-dead bounty on their heads, including you and most probably me."

"So that's why all of those people were chasing after me," Dusk mused. 

"I don't know how Reeve got the information on all of these Turks, though. He only knew four of them—Turks Tseng, Reno, Rude, and Elena. Tseng was killed a long time ago, but the other three are probably still running around out there if they haven't been caught yet. But how he got the information on you, when you were much before his time…and how he knew that you were still alive…that is all beyond my reasoning."

"And…do you have a copy of my bounty?"

"Just a moment. Yuffie," he said, grabbing the collar of the ninja who was conveniently traveling in front of them, muttering about something under her breath.

"Ow! Let go of me, you jerk!" Yuffie yelped angrily, twisting around on Vincent's handhold.

"Does anyone happen to have a copy of Dusk's bounty?"

"Yeah, right here." Yuffie fished around in one of the pockets on her khaki shorts and handed the folded piece of paper over her shoulder to Vincent. "Now let me go, vampire."

Vincent took the paper without a thank-you and released the little ninja, ignoring the venomous glare and impudent displaying of the tongue she presented him before she turned back to the others. "Here." He offered the paper to Dusk without even looking at it.

Dusk skipped over the picture and went straight to the description at the bottom, eyes narrowing. "I didn't do half of these crimes they claim I did. 'Illegal smuggling'? Vincent, the Intelligence sector didn't do anything like that. And…who's President Rufus Shinra? It says that I was the one who murdered him."

"What?" Vincent took the paper back, scanning it over. "You weren't awake in Rufus' time." He frowned and slipped the sheet into the recesses of his cloak. "That's strange. Why would Reeve put down false information like this? What is it about you that he wants eliminated so badly?"

***

"So, um…your name's Zeno? That's a pretty neat name," Aeris commented, trying to strike up a conversation between herself and her silent companion for perhaps the tenth time.

Zeno shrugged. "Thank you."

"You got my name, right? I'm Aeris."

He nodded.

Aeris bit her lip in frustration. From the position she and Zeno traveled in at the back of the group, she could see a gray streak that was Bahamut followed by a mass of spiky blonde hair and a long, brown, loosely tied tail. After them was the dirty-blonde hair of Cid Highwind and the short, boyish dark brown haircut of Yuffie Kisaragi. In front of herself and Zeno was her father and the woman called Dusk, both talking to each other with the animation of zombies. She directed her gaze to the walls of the crater as they descended deeper into it, watching the colors shift from gray to grayish-green. Already the sunlight was almost unable to reach them save for a few rods that hit in round, warm golden patches here and there. Aeris turned her eyes to the opening of the crater, catching sight of the downward trip's last bit of clear, beautiful blue sky.

"What was this place called? The North Crater?" Aeris asked.

Zeno nodded again.

"Bahamut said that the Lifestream was the closest to the surface over here. Is that true?"

He nodded yet another time.

"I almost can't see the sky already. I can't wait to see it again, can you?"

A small shrug of his shoulders was his reply this time around.

"Boy, it sure was a beautiful shade of green today, wasn't it?"

"What was? The sky?" Zeno turned and looked at her, his eyes meeting hers for the first time since they had started moving into the Crater.

Aeris smiled. "Gotcha. I was just checking to see if you were actually paying attention to me, or if you were going off into La-La Land."

" 'La-La Land'? What's that?"

"You know, daydreaming. Thinking about your own stuff." Aeris grinned mischievously up at him, twirling a lock of hair around one finger. "I do that a lot. Dad says that it's not a good habit, but the real world is so boring sometimes that I have to do something to keep myself from dying of boredom." 

"Hmm." Zeno turned his eyes back to the front.

_Not again, Aeris groaned inwardly. __For such a cute guy, he's totally deadpan._

_Her own comment slightly surprised her. Up until the day Bahamut had arrived, her father was the only member of the other gender that she knew—the only person she __did know, in fact. Bahamut had been more like a mentor to her, nothing more than a friend. And here she was, experiencing an emotion she had never encountered before and was just as strange to her as the boy those feelings were directed to. _

_Maybe I'm finally growing up._

_"Need a hand?" Zeno asked, extending his towards Aeris. She blinked, realizing that if he hadn't broken her from her thoughts, she probably would have ended up simply falling into the sudden, but not fatal, drop that occurred in their path. He had already gone through the obstacle so quickly that she hadn't noticed his movement._

"Oh…thank you." Aeris put her hand into Zeno's, feeling a slight tingle move through her spine as skin touched skin. She hopped down, letting Zeno take most of her weight into the support formed by their hands and landing safely beside him.

"You're welcome." He let go once she was safely on the path.

"So, um…is the blonde man your dad or something?" Aeris asked, falling into step with Zeno once more.

"Who, Uncle Cloud?" he responded. "No. He raised me when my mother died. I don't know who my father is."

"Oh." Aeris bit her lip. _Bit of a touchy subject to bring up…_

_"It doesn't really bother me if you ask," Zeno continued, almost as if he could read Aeris' mind. "I never knew my parents anyway, so I quite frankly cannot feel any emotions for them in the slightest."_

"But—"

Zeno stopped in his tracks, ears visibly pricking up. "Get down."

"What?" Was Aeris' reply before Zeno forced her to the stony path with a firm hand on her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the travelers in front of them whirl around at the sound of her hitting the ground. Through the other side of her eyes, she saw a gleaming dagger appear in Zeno's free hand that somehow seemed to give off a sickly, bloody red glow to her own eyes. A rusty-colored blur that easily reached past Zeno's head launched itself at him, moving so quickly that it remained a blur with no distinguishable characteristics that would identify it.

Before Aeris could blink, Zeno had released her shoulder and the dagger he had held a moment before was buried within the creature's long throat. It let out a gurgling howl of pain as he lunged forward, ripping the weapon out of the wound with a sickening sound of tearing flesh. But that didn't stop the creature; it simply flew back at Zeno, greenish liquid dripping from the wound in its neck and its bright yellow eyes flashing with fury.

Zeno had clearly been taken by surprise this time around. An outstretched claw raked at the young man's shoulder before he had himself fully cleared from the reptile's reach. Now bright red was mixing with the scintillating green of the animal's blood, splashing against each other on the ground in eye-catching contrast. Aeris let out a squeak at the sight of the blood and forced herself to move backwards on the ground, sliding right into her father's arms.

"Aeris! Are you okay?" Vincent demanded as he grabbed his wide-eyed daughter's trembling form.

"I'm fine, dad, really!" she insisted, nevertheless clutching to Vincent's cape. 

The man named Cloud Strife came hurrying up to them, managing to squeeze in between Dusk and Vincent despite the narrow space provided by the path that was only haltered by a wall and a drop to the bottom of the Crater. "Is she all right?" he demanded, glancing at Aeris to check. 

"She's fine," Vincent returned, helping Aeris to her feet and supporting her as he moved away from the two combatants. "I wouldn't know about your kid, though."

"How the hell did a Kajiha that big manage to follow us from Wutai?" Yuffie yelled as she peered over Cloud's shoulder.

Bahamut appeared in front of both Cloud and Dusk so quickly that they couldn't even wonder how he had gotten there. "Is that what you call them? Kajiha?" 

"Where's Zeno?!" Tifa cried, running up with Cid following.

A howl of pain answered her, emitting from the Kajiha as it fell on its side, a new wound dripping green in its side. It glared hatefully at the source of its agony and tormenter while Zeno took the opportunity to grab the claw mark on his shoulder. He squeezed the lips of the wounds together to try and stop the bleeding as best as he could before the Kajiha threw itself at him again.

"This isn't going to work," Bahamut muttered to himself. "Cloud, Dusk, get the others a little further down the path and get yourselves flat on the ground. Whatever you do, don't look up until I say so."

Dusk obeyed without question, grabbing Cloud and herding the other away while muttering her instructions to them. Cloud glanced over his shoulder as the hooded man moved towards the Kajiha, who was busy eyeing Zeno up for another attack.

"What does that crazy old man think he's doing?" Yuffie growled as she threw herself on the ground.

Bahamut put himself between the Kajiha and Zeno, staff held at his side with the flawed crystal facing the Kajiha. It let out a hissing snarl at the new obstacle, gathering itself to leap again. At that, Bahamut snapped the staff forward, concentrating on the power that came surging from his soul. 

"Zeno, cover your eyes!" he warned only a moment before the crystal on the staff exploded with a blinding light that filled the entire North Crater. The Kajiha screamed a very human-like cry of sheer terror and pain. Only Bahamut saw what happened to the reptile's writhing form as it disintegrated into the heart of the blast, slowly melting away until nothing remained of it except for the echoes of its scream. The light disappeared with the Kajiha's body, seemingly sucked back into the crystal that had formed it and taking even the Kajiha's scream with it. Bahamut nodded to himself before lifting the staff over his shoulder and turning to the others who still lay facedown. 

"It's all right now," he called to them. Bahamut glanced over his shoulder at Zeno, who was staring at him with narrowed black eyes while blood dripped unnoticed from his shoulder.

"Who are you?" Zeno asked softly.

Bahamut smiled toothily, baring his pointed teeth in what was almost a threat. 

"Who do I look like I am to you…?"

Aeris' form moving towards Zeno interrupted Bahamut's line of vision. She knelt beside the young man, mouth opening in shock. "Zeno, are you okay?! You're bleeding!"

Zeno shrugged. "I'm fine." He one-handedly ripped the ruined sleeve off of his shoulder, discarding the bloody parts and beginning to wind the rest around his wound.

"Here, let me do that." Aeris took the cloth and deftly finished the job, securing it with a tight knot.

He studied her with his midnight eyes. "Thank you."

Aeris felt a blush coming under the scrutiny of Zeno, so she hid her face quickly with a duck of her head. "Um…you're…you're welcome." _Oh, boy…if he caught that__…_

_Cloud was at Zeno's other side in a matter of seconds, checking the wrapped shoulder with the brisk efficiency of one who had seen many wounds in his life as a fighter. "Hopefully, the Kajiha didn't have poisonous talons. Can you stand, Zeno?"_

Zeno lifted himself to his feet in reply, using his unhurt arm as leverage. "I'm fine," he told Tifa before she said anything as she hurried up to him. 

"Are you sure, Zeno?" Tifa asked anxiously. "That Kajiha was much bigger than the first one…"

He shrugged with his good shoulder, a strangely lopsided gesture. "It took me by surprise. I should probably keep my guard up even more now."

"That…mutated dragon was a native to the Crater," Bahamut said softly. "It was just protecting its home." For an instant, Cloud caught a flash of sadness and pain in the man's crimson eyes. Then he straightened up, glancing towards the rest of the group. "We're nearby the heart of the Crater. Everyone, be on your guards—attacks like these will become more frequent as we progress further in."

As the rest of the group turned to follow Bahamut, Aeris glanced up at Zeno once more. "Does your shoulder hurt?"

"I'm fine," he assured her shortly. He nodded ahead at the others. "Let's go."

Aeris remembered nodding and taking one step forward ahead of Zeno when there was the noise of cloth sliding against stone behind her. She whirled around just in time to see Zeno collapse on his side, landing roughly on his wounded shoulder and not noticing in the least.

"Zeno? _Zeno?!" she cried out in alarm, dropping to her knees and touching an outstretched hand. She almost drew back immediately in shock, for Zeno's skin, as warm and pulsing full of life as she had remembered it before, was now as cold as the ground underneath her knees. His pulse was lucid but slow, beating so irregularly with such unnatural intervals between each throb that she had almost thought he died before the next pulse came to her searching fingers. All Aeris could think of was the Kajiha and the gash in Zeno's shoulder that was bleeding once more through the cloth of his makeshift bandage._

She was roughly pulled back by her father's hand as he crouched in her place, feeling Zeno's pulse as she had done. "Cloud!" He immediately called over his shoulder. "You'd better come here! This doesn't look too good!"

Although Cloud immediately began recklessly running towards them, it was Bahamut who still managed to reach the unmoving body before him. Bahamut grabbed Zeno's neck, eyes widening distinctly from underneath the confines of his hood.

"What happened?" he demanded, fixing his gaze on Aeris.

"I d-don't know," she stammered, almost on the verge of tears of helplessness. "I…he told me that we should start following you, and th-then…he just f-fell over!"

"Was it the Kajiha?" Cloud shot at Bahamut, icy blue eyes piercing through Bahamut's own red ones.

Bahamut shook his head. "No. That…Kajiha, as you call it, had no poison capabilities. This…is unnatural. I have no idea what would cause such a death-like reaction as this…"

Aeris was pulled away from Zeno as the others rushed in to see what had happened, and she let them do it. Tears began to trickle down her face unchecked as she squeezed herself as small as she could against the side of the Crater.

And Zeno's light devouring eyes, wide open and staring mindlessly into nothing, ceaselessly plagued her thoughts until she let herself fall into oblivion.


	15. Heeding My Mother's Call

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Heeding My Mother's Call

"We need a fire," Bahamut finally announced over the clamor of the mortals. He frowned mentally and immediately projected a soothing feeling into all of the distraught minds. "And we need to move Zeno into a more comfortable location. Some of you go on ahead and look for a safe place to rest. The rest of us will stay here and guard Zeno. Once you've found a spot, report back to us."

Tifa, Dusk, and Cid all went trotting down the path simultaneously, their forms quickly disappearing into the green light that was beginning to emit from the depths of the North Crater.

Bahamut watched them go before he turned back to Zeno, frowning once more. _What could have happened to him? I know none of my mortal siblings could have managed to poison him somehow… Without hesitating, Bahamut unfastened his cape and spread it across the boy's cold body, rolling Zeno onto his back and off of his wounded shoulder. For the first time since he had taken on the form of a mortal for this journey, most of him was exposed into the open for all eyes to see._

Cloud's eyes rested on Bahamut's sharply pointed ears, his almost metallic-reminiscent blue-gray hair, and the slightly scaled skin that was now a glistening shift of green and gray underneath the few strays of Lifestream light that was reaching up to their place. His eyes narrowed slightly in faintly apprehensive caution before he decided to simply ask what was on his mind.

"So you really are Bahamut."

Bahamut favored Cloud with a patient gaze. "Did I claim otherwise?"

"You know what I mean. That's how you could get rid of the Kajiha so easily. Was it one of your Flare attacks?"

Bahamut closed his eyes. "Yes. Had I the choice, I would have simply talked the dragon out of attacking. But its mind was so deranged and unwilling to listen that I had no other option available other than to terminate it." He stared at Cloud, sorrow once more returning to his eyes that had seen more deaths than any other being. "Had she not been so poisoned by the high amounts of Mako in this area, I think all she would have done is threaten us until we left her territory. Did you know that we used to be the only things alive on this Planet? That was before the other Summons came—and even before the Ancients. The dragons were the true rulers of this world…but I wouldn't be the one to criticize the Planet for adding more life."

Now Vincent joined the conversation, but still crouching protectively nearby Aeris' sleeping form. "Why is it that only the dragons are affected by this sudden surge in Mako poisoning?" he asked softly. "And why is it that the only places they seem to be in…is where Zeno is?"

Bahamut stared at Vincent. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that the dragons…seem to be attacking Zeno in particular."

"He's right," Yuffie added thoughtfully. "The surge in Kajihas in Wutai began when Zeno was…in his late teens—physically—and still living within Wutai. Once we left, well, granted that I was the one who found it first, I think that the Kajiha was actually hunting our group instead of the baby chocobo."

"Now one suddenly attacks again, and it specifically targeted Zeno this time. When Bahamut intervened, all it saw was an obstacle between its prey. Also, there seems to be no other Mako-infested creature that any of us have seen. There are no other reports, either." Vincent turned his brooding eyes towards Bahamut. "Bahamut, are you sure that dragon who just attacked Zeno was really not listening to you? What did you hear when you tried to talk to it?"

"I heard…mindless babble, mostly. She kept saying something about enemies and death, but…" Bahamut closed his eyes in thought. "I can remember…some underlying touch of something foreign within her thoughts. Something that kept her mind within its grip—and I also felt some panic, too. I assumed that the panic was aimed towards protecting her territory, but now that you mention it, that feeling…was targeted at the thing that was holding her mind in its grasp."

Vincent nodded grimly. "Jenova. I'd bet almost anything that that was Jenova you felt in the dragon's mind."

"Jenova?!" Cloud felt the fine hairs on the back of his neck prickle in response to the mention of the alien's code name. "She…can't be alive, can she?"

"Bahamut had a theory," Vincent said slowly, "that what we fought before the final battle with Sephiroth wasn't the last piece of Jenova. He thought that there might have been one last piece hidden away in the Lifestream somewhere and it eventually grew into a whole Jenova. Once it did, it produced another Sephiroth by whatever means it used. And ever since we came to the North Crater, I've had this…feeling…that some part of me is being called into the Crater. Something wants me to come to the center of the Crater…"

"Why don't I feel it?" Cloud asked. "I…was under her control before."

"Cloud, I don't know what Hojo did to you and the other Soldiers, but your Jenova cells are dead," Bahamut explained. "Perhaps he only meant for the Jenova implant to be temporary and didn't use some of the better, healthier cells that could survive from even within an alien body. Vincent was an earlier 'experiment.' I can still feel the Jenova inside of him. Hojo used the Jenova cells on himself eventually, correct?"

Cloud nodded. "Before we killed him, he was giving us hell by changing into all of these different life forms."

"He got those shape-shifting powers from the Jenova cells that he used. Those cells are very similar to the ones that Vincent has, and that is why Vincent can shape change as well. My theory is that Vincent—and perhaps even Dusk—was used as a sort of guinea pig for Hojo's own plans, ones that didn't include Soldier."

"Will my Jenova cells die off eventually?" Vincent questioned, his emotionless voice saying that he didn't expect a good or bad answer.

Bahamut hesitated before answering. "Vincent, you and Dusk…might have the Jenova inside of you for the rest of your lives. The cells Hojo used were very strong, and they've been nurturing themselves like a parasite inside of you. It may be that the only way for them to die is for either you to die, which will cut off their food supply, or for them to simply cease to exist due to some unknown condition inside of your body."

"Whoa. So he's going to be Mister Vampire for the rest of his life?" Yuffie asked jokingly.

Cloud had the temptation to whack the impudent ninja over the head, but since she wasn't within a convenient reach of his fist, he compromised by shooting her a warning glare.

Yuffie ignored his look. "So is the kid going to be all right?"

"I don't know," Bahamut returned. "I can't tell. The 'kid' might be another member of Jenova's plot."

"Yeah, Sephiroth incarnated, we know," Yuffie said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

The stare Bahamut gave her almost outdid the one Cloud had presented her with earlier. "You…what?"

"We had our assumptions a few days before we left Wutai—Zeno didn't act like a normal boy of his physical age group, and he had certain tendencies that reminded us too much of Sephiroth," Cloud explained, cutting off Yuffie's attempt. "He…had something of a temper tantrum once, and in doing so he displayed an incredible amount of power. I mean, if Tifa didn't stop him, we would all probably be dead, along with the whole of Wutai."

"You keep saying his 'physical age,' " Bahamut pointed out. "Do you mean that he's really around…say, four and a half chronologically?"

"Right on target," Yuffie agreed.

"That's the same age Aeris is," Vincent whispered. Cloud spun around on his knees, scraping them against the rock floor but ignoring the burning pain. 

"What did you say?!" Cloud demanded.

"I…found Aeris four and a half years ago," Vincent said, obviously loathe to reveal his "daughter's" true age but seeing no other choice. "She's not really my daughter, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, Cloud. I couldn't understand why she grew so quickly, but…"

"There's a place a little ways down," Dusk interrupted, jogging up to the group. "The others are waiting there."

Bahamut nodded shortly. "Good." He reached down and swung Zeno into his arms without hesitation, carrying the young man as if he were no more than the child he was supposed to be. Vincent followed suit with Aeris, holding her to him with a gentleness that surprised Cloud.

_He really does love her like she's his daughter, Cloud thought as he rose, taking up the rear guard. __God…Aeris…You came back…_

_…But you might as well still be dead to me…_

_ _

***

Bahamut lay Zeno down near the center of the nearly flat, round stone platform that extended a little over the bottom of the Crater—or as near the bottom as it could get, for there was no real end to the Crater's depth. Yuffie was already fascinatingly staring over the edge of the cliff, watching the Lifestream that still poured into the Crater from below shift in shades of green while it moved about almost like a breathing thing. Bahamut glanced around for a minute, noted that all of the members of the group were busy clearing up the area, and quickly set one of his hands palm down onto the stone ground. He closed his eyes and concentrated, sending forth a mere spark of the power that he had used earlier and channeling it through his arm and into his hand. With rigid control, he slowly brought his hand straight up from the area his palm had previously rested on, whispering in an almost inaudible, sibilant hiss under his breath.

Cloud turned around at that moment and watched in a transfixed mix of curiosity and horror as a column of flame grew from underneath Bahamut's rising hand. It flared up with the man's hand, licking hungrily at the air on all sides but going nowhere above the hand that seemed to hold it back. A bare wisp of Bahamut's voice reached Cloud's ears, constantly changing in tone while he seemed to be saying no more than varying strands of S's. If he closed his eyes, Cloud could almost imagine that Bahamut's mutterings were akin to that of dried autumn leaves that made the same hissing noises as they brushed against one another. Then Bahamut opened his eyes in a flash of crimson light and quickly brought his hand away from the fire while it burst into full life. It was no bigger or smaller than the standard campfires the team built in the past—and burning on absolutely nothing but cold, hard stone that seemed to give it even more spirit than any other fuel. Bahamut smiled, paying no attention to Cloud as he busied himself with moving Zeno into a comfortable position facing the fire.

"What language was that?" Cloud asked softly once Bahamut was satisfied with Zeno's location. Bahamut's back stiffened slightly before he slowly relaxed, settling himself down beside Zeno's head.

"The language of the dragons," Bahamut replied quietly. "It's all but a lost tongue. Most dragons are natural firestarters, and that is because of the language that we speak. Our tongue imitates the sound of fire as it burns away at its fuel. Because of that, we can call fire to us and use it as our weapon. That is why the fire usually comes from our mouths—because that is the source of the fire calling. However…it takes a good dragon with an excellent control of the draconic language to make fire obey their whims. Any dragon can start a fire—but if the dragon is not careful, they can start a blaze that will devour forests and life before it lives out its life."

"What's this one running on?" Cloud asked, crouching next to Bahamut and watching the tongues of flame dance in the greenish light that came from the Lifestream located nearby them.

Bahamut smiled again, flashing his sharp-toothed grin. "Everything. Dragonfire is special—it takes the energy that is underneath our feet, floating in the air around it, and even from the sun. It can almost seem to be living itself, but all it does is merely borrow life. Just as how the fire you mortals create lives on the fuel you give it, dragonfire thrives on any fuel it can reach. With such a huge amount of power right underneath us—the Lifestream—this fire won't burn out until I tell it to."

"That fire at Cosmo Canyon," Cloud suddenly began, his memories searching back in time. "The one that's said to have always been burning there, except it went out in a time of crisis…"

"That is dragonfire," Bahamut agreed. "My own. I am much more involved in this world than my siblings of the Elements. Cosmo Canyon is one of those last places that honor the old ways and the people of the past—those like myself. Although I will not come voluntarily unless summoned, I still have enough contact to warn the people."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"This is the one time when I will come of my own will." Bahamut's eyes grew flinty in the firelight as the others settled nearby, eyeing the fire that burned on seemingly nothing. "In a time of crisis, sometimes in order to get something done…you have to do it yourself." He turned to the others, nodding. "It's all right to get some rest. I will keep watch for as long as necessary."

"What, you don't sleep?" Cloud asked as he stifled a yawn. 

"Not true. I do sleep, but only when I need it. Usually, a nap once about every century does the trick." 

"I hope this isn't that time of the century," Cloud muttered as he collapsed into a deep, tired sleep.

"No, it isn't," Bahamut answered to the sleeping man. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, assuming a thinking pose while still keeping an ear on the quiet darkness that surrounded the slumbering group.

_How can I do this? He wondered to himself, watching Zeno out of the corner of an eye. __That boy is going to be the cause of everything. He's Sephiroth, without a doubt, just as Aeris is Aeris. Perhaps bringing Aeris straight into the Crater was not the best idea, but I will have to wait and see as to how Jenova reacts to that. For as much as we know, she might be lurking down there right now, waiting to strike…_

_And what do I do with Zeno? He's helpless right now…if I don't get rid of him when he's vulnerable now, then he'll be at least twice as impossible to kill later on. Contemplating this thought, Bahamut turned both of his eyes on Zeno, watching the firelight play on his fine, aristocratic features. He closed his eyes and turned away._

_I can't do it. I know I can't. When I felt his heart earlier, I could feel something that was holding me back from striking the boy down…but what it is, I don't know. My anger should have overcome it, but something still held me back._

_Bahamut yawned just then, surprising himself with his action. __What the…? I just took a nap ten years ago! I shouldn't be tired right now…_

_But despite his confused thoughts, he could feel his head beginning to droop down towards his chest while his eyelids lowered themselves as well. He fought against the wave of exhaustion that swept over him, filling every inch of his body with lethargy and slowing his brain down to a sluggish crawl._

_What's…going…on…?_

_Unable to fight the natural reaction of sleeping, Bahamut felt his body slide backwards away from the fire, landing heavily on his side as his mind slowly began to black out._

_I…can't…_

_ _

***

Zeno's eyes snapped open the minute that Bahamut's closed. He stood, brushing Bahamut's cape off of his body and letting it land in a crumpled heap around his feet.

_What happened? He wondered as he stared around at the bunch of unconscious bodies around him. To his right was the seemingly infallible Bahamut sleeping like a child, and scattered around the fire that began dancing alarmingly were the other members of the group, caught up into a deep sleep of some sort._

Absently, Zeno began moving towards the edge of the platform-like cliff he was on. As he moved closer to the end, the greenish light that already flooded most of the place burst into full glory, washing through his hair and staining his usually dark eyes a muddy blackish-green. 

And a voice beckoned from beyond the veil of green.

"I'm coming," Zeno whispered. Eyes fixed straight in front of him, he calmly took a step forward towards the heart of the light…

***

Aeris let out a mindless moan as a ray of green light hit her closed eyes. She sat up, blinking rapidly and gasping as she saw the unconscious forms of her companions strewn on the ground. Looking around frantically, she found the source of the light—

_Zeno?!_

_He stood there, nearly touching the brightest section of the glowing light. His eyes were wide open, staring at the light. As Aeris watched, his normally deep black eyes began to lighten almost as if they were drinking in the shifting green lights. And once the lights entered his eyes, they seemed to be trapped there, sucked within his eyes in such great amounts that they changed to a deep, brilliant emerald green that was even darker than the light surrounding him. His long hair was set free from its confining tail by an invisible hand, fluttering around his slender frame in an unfelt wind. As Aeris watched, his hair began to lighten, almost as if he were aging before her eyes and still yet retaining his youthful face. His raven black hair went from midnight to pepper to gray to white in a matter of moments, lightening from his scalp all the way to the tips of his hair as if a bleached comb was brushing through it. And finally, the white disappeared into a metallic aura, brightening into a pure molten silver that no human on the Planet could possess._

Aeris opened her mouth, frozen in place by her rigid muscles and unable to do a thing except to watch as the changes came flowing through Zeno.

And then, he stepped off the edge of the cliff, disappearing from sight while a triumphant laugh of pure cruelty rang out in Aeris' mind, taking the glow of the Lifestream with it.

Aeris screamed like she never had before.

***

_"No-o! Zeno-o-o-o!__"_

_The distantly familiar voice pierced through his fogged mind like a blunt knife, stabbing at certain areas but not making the slightest impressions._

_Who is she? Do I know her…? But who's…Zeno…?_

_No_

_The sudden, feminine voice rasped at him from some direction just ahead of him, causing him to recoil from nothing._

_Who are you?!_

_Who am I _

_The voice began to laugh softly after that answer._

_You know who I am_

_Now the voice was everywhere, caressing his mind and whispering inside of his ears in echoes. He shuddered involuntarily at a breath that appeared on his cheek. As that happened, memories came flooding to him, shredding whatever life he had masqueraded as before into ruins. His hands clenched into fists, suddenly closing around the hilt of a sword that had appeared from nowhere and was very familiar to his mind…_

_You know_

_The who_

_The what_

_You know_

_Who I am_

_And who you are_

_Because_

_You_

_Are_

_I am… I am…_

_My son_

_Sephiroth!_

_Sephiroth…_


	16. Revisiting the Crisis

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

Revisiting the Crisis

Bahamut heard the cry of a scared young girl in his dreams. He whirled around and tried to chase down the location, moving through the fog around him at a sluggish pace that didn't change no matter how quickly he tried to move his legs. For some reason, he _knew the girl who was sobbing in terror, but he couldn't remember who it was. A mortal to be sure, but someone…_

A trembling shape appeared in front of him, shaking spasmodically with each cry that ripped through the fabric of the dream world. Bahamut knelt beside the figure, assuming that it was the source of the cries, and reached out to touch its shoulder.

The hunched over human turned its head, meeting Bahamut's eyes with its own. The emerald eyes were steady and clear, showing that the eyes' owner was not the scared person Bahamut had thought it was. Bahamut blinked as a flash of silver swung in front of one of the deep green eyes, then another on the other side. He backed away, finding in front of him a mere child barely into adolescence, possessed with a veil-like mass of platinum hair and glowing green eyes that seemed to be trying to peer straight into Bahamut's soul. The boy stared silently at Bahamut, abruptly seeming to tower over the old dragon as he himself crouched on the ground, for the first time in his existence feeling powerless and just as helpless.

Bahamut blinked, shaking his head from side to side. The silver-haired child had grown into a full-fledged adult with the same hair and eyes. A slice of silver lightening lanced down between Bahamut and the young man, taking the shape of a long sword that bore the signs of use and blood on its still-yet sharp blade. Never taking his eyes off of Bahamut, the man reached out and took a firm grip on the hilt of the sword, raising it in front of him in what was clearly an attacking stance.

The air behind the man shifted and cleared into a pair of eyes that were an uncannily glowing red and having the same slit pupils that a cat bore. They had the same intense, soul-penetrating look that strange young man's eyes wore.

And they, too, were staring straight at Bahamut.

The eyes narrowed, and then widened into a malicious sense of glee. The continuous sobbing of the girl in the background made an arcing crescendo in volume, becoming louder and louder as the two pairs of eyes, red and green, kept staring straight into the depths of Bahamut's heart.

The girl's cries melted into a single, drawn out scream.

_"No-o! Zeno-o-o-o!"_

_ _

_Aeris!_

_ _

***

Aeris shuddered as the eerie green glow disappeared, along with Zeno and the fire that had been burning when she woke up. A sudden chill shot through her, moving from the base of her spine to the tip, caressing her back in one long, drawn out stroke.

_Your time is coming soon, girl…_

_ _

_That voice! Aeris whimpered involuntarily as the harsh, gratingly familiar whisper threaded its way through her mind. _

A slight movement to her left caught her eyes, drawing them towards the shadowy figure lying on the ground that was slowly trying to pull itself to its hands and knees. Its head was shaking groggily from side to side as if it had just awakened from a long, nightmare-filled slumber. She crawled as quickly as she could over to it, too scared to stand and too afraid that the voice would come back again and find her, alone and defenseless.

The person was Bahamut, his blue-gray hair and gray skin shining dully in what was left of the brilliant light from before. He coughed and blinked several times, shivering slightly.

"Bahamut! Are you all right?" Aeris asked in an anxious whisper, unable to raise her trembling voice any more in volume.

Bahamut groaned in response. "What…happened?"

"I don't know!" Aeris bit her lip. "Can you…make some light? I can't really see in here."

"Isn't there one already…?" Bahamut turned his eyes towards the center of the platform where the fire he had created previously should have still been burning. Instead, a strange blankness met his eyes. "What?! It's gone!" He reached up and gingerly touched the side of his head, trying to remember what had happened. He had felt so tired, and then…and then…

_And then?_

_ _

_Nothing. He couldn't remember what happened after that feeling of overwhelming exhaustion that had taken immediate control of his mind and body. Bits and pieces came to him, a confusing collage of glowing emerald eyes and pitiful tears, but not enough to tell him what had occurred during his unconsciousness._

He extended a finger and concentrated, hissing under his breath and feeling slightly relieved when his powers responded to his call and started a tiny flame of dancing fire on the tip of his finger. Bahamut plucked the bit of fire off of his finger, cupping it in his opposite hand before handing it to Aeris, who simply took it out of pure surprise and the lack of being able to make any other reaction. He had spelled it so that it would not catch and burn as regular fire would; a tricky charm that formed a translucent, thin encasing of membrane around the little flame that still let enough light out.

"Check on Zeno," Bahamut told Aeris, beginning to stand on his shaky human legs. "I'll look at the others."

Aeris gulped audibly. "Um…Bahamut…I don't know if Zeno is still there."

"_What?" Bahamut jerked his head around to stare at the girl, for the first time since they had met using a tone of voice that projected a mix of fear and horror. Then he was sprinting off towards the bundle on the ground that had marked where Zeno had lain, kneeling beside it and pawing through it as if Zeno had somehow shrunk and was hiding beneath each fold of the cape. When his search ended fruitlessly, he turned once more on Aeris. "Aeris. Tell me what happened!"_

Aeris turned pale under the flickering glimmer of the fire she held. "Zeno…I saw him walking towards the edge of the cliff, and there was some sort of green light all around him…"

"What else?" Bahamut demanded, rising from his kneeling position.

"He changed," Aeris whispered. "His hair and eyes changed color, and then he just…stepped off of the edge. The light all disappeared with it…I think that was when your fire went away, too."

Bahamut went silent for a moment. "That fire that I made…only I should be able to extinguish it…me and…" His eyes widened. "Aeris, did someone speak to you?!"

Aeris nodded, green eyes growing big underneath Bahamut's scrutinizing crimson orbs. "Some voice in my mind said that I would be next, right after Zeno disappeared. I'd never heard that voice before, Bahamut, it was something like…I don't know, fingernails going across a piece of slate. A voice that made your spine tingle like crazy and you couldn't get out of your mind…"

_"A voice that made your spine tingle like crazy"…? Bahamut frowned pensively before turning back to Aeris. "Go and start trying to revive the others. I'll work on them, too."_

Aeris made a beeline for her father, but Bahamut had reached his side first. She made a detour in her path and headed for the spiky-haired man named Cloud, crouching next to him and reaching out to give his shoulder a tentative shake.

A pair of flashing ocean blue eyes immediately lit up from within his shadowed face, the pupils expanding and the eyes narrowing in order to make out who the figure over him was. Aeris backed away as he practically leaped to his feet, muscles tensed and his hands reaching for the sword he had been sleeping on.

"M-Mister S-Strife, it's just me," Aeris stammered, completely taken aback by the fighter's reaction she had received. 

The man paused in the middle of grabbing the hilt of his sword before relaxing slowly. "I'm sorry, Aeris," he said, finishing the journey and sheathing the cleaver sword over his back. Cloud turned to meet her beautiful green eyes with his own, trying to find a way to apologize to the ghost of his dead love. But he couldn't bring himself to make eye contact and ended up just fiddling with the laces on his boots. "What's wrong? And why is it so dark?"

"I think Bahamut will have to explain that to you," Aeris replied, juggling the tongue of fire she still held to her other hand and reaching up with her freed hand to rub at her cheek. "Can you go help wake the others? I'm not sure what's happening, but Bahamut should."

Cloud nodded, feeling a surge of emotions in his heart and unable to do anything about them. He waited for Aeris to turn to her next patient before coming out of his crouching position and turning to the person who had been sleeping closest to him. He reached out half-blindly and managed to find Tifa's shoulder, shaking it gently but firmly.

"Who…?" Tifa yawned, blinking owlishly. "Cloud?"

"Wake up, Tifa," Cloud said softly. "There's something going on. Do you remember falling asleep?"

"Falling asleep…? I…I can't…remember," Tifa replied slowly. She shook her head as if she were trying to clear cobwebs from her mind. "I feel like someone just stirred up my brain in a big bowl and then mashed it back into my skull."

"You're not the only one," Cloud assured her as he moved on. No sooner had he touched the next person's shoulder than there was a flash of silver that was pressed up against his throat, just barely drawing a thin line of blood along its edge. He froze, knowing that this type of reaction was to be expected of some people, including himself. But he had never met someone who was so sensitive that they actually tried to cripple the person before at least finding out who it was.

Dusk peered at him with clear, blood-colored eyes. She apparently recognized him for she took the edge of her blade away, but she never relaxed in the slightest even when Cloud gave her a thin smile as he swiped the blood away from his throat. 

"What do you want?" she asked in her voice that was as cold as the blade she was rubbing blood away from with her bare fingertips. She licked Cloud's blood off of her fingers and put the sword at her side again, the long length of the sword shining even in the shroud of shadows that surrounded them.

Cloud restrained himself from grimacing as she finished cleaning her fingers of blood, nevertheless taking a half step that was more of a flinch away from her. "Bahamut wants to talk to us. Apparently, something has happened, and that something isn't that good."

"It never is," Dusk remarked offhandedly as she rolled her neck from side to side, making audible pops with each twist.

"Everyone, pay attention," Bahamut called out to the group as heads turned. "In case you haven't noticed by now, Zeno is missing." He held out a hand to gain attention as eyes immediately grew frantic and turned to each other. "And there might be a reason for that."

"What is it?!" Cid demanded. "Tell us! I may have only known the kid for a short time, but he's a good one. He wouldn't run off without telling anyone first."

Bahamut paused and then chuckled. "He's a 'good one'? You should know, Cid. Didn't Cloud tell you who Zeno was?"

"But…I thought that that was just a theory…" Cid deflated. "You mean it's true?"

"Every bit of it." Bahamut's eyes grew hard. "Jenova has been here—I can feel her traces in the air. And she's even stronger than before; she was the reason why all of us, including me, fell asleep, and most probably also the reason why Zeno is missing."

"What does that old chunk of bacteria want this time?" Yuffie demanded irritably.

They got a reply.

_You can be more creative with insults than that, a creaking voice hissed into their minds. Aeris and Cloud both stiffened perceptibly; out of everyone in the group, only they had heard that voice before._

_It's Jenova!_

_ _

_I've been listening to all of your theories, the voice continued. __I probably shouldn't tell you this, but then where would the fun be? They're all absolutely correct.Your… "Zeno"…is Sephiroth. Just as Aeris is that annoying girl from the past…_

_ _

_"What do you want here, Jenova?" Bahamut asked the air calmly. He folded his arms across his chest and glared at some unseen entity._

_I just wanted to play with you, that's all. The voice took on a tinge of malicious humor. __I will succeed in destroying this pitiful world this time, Bahamut, and this time none of you can stop me. Meteor never was destroyed; it simply withdrew until it was summoned again._

_ _

_"You've forgotten one thing, Jenova," Cloud abruptly said in a clear, fearless voice. "Holy can come again. Its seal was broken and all it would take is one word to bring it back."_

_Oh, no, my little puppet, Jenova replied mockingly. __I'm so scared. I took care of Holy while I was still growing…the poor thing was just too worn out to fight back. And I've reconstructed the seal. You won't be able to come close to opening it without the White Materia…and that's been long lost to you. Even then…my son is there to keep Holy from aiding you pathetic parasites again._

_ _

_A sinking feeling filled Cloud's heart as he began to realize that what Jenova had just said was true. Holy would have been too tired from stopping Meteor that it wouldn't have been able to even put up a decent fight, and the Lifestream…_

"Where's Zeno?" Aeris demanded suddenly. "What did you do with him?!"

_Zeno? The voice was streaked with malice as the group fell silent, waiting for an answer. __Zeno…is mine now. Jenova laughed, a coldly derisive call that made Aeris' knees begin to shake. And then, Jenova's alien presence was gone, vanished like Bahamut's fire that she had so easily put out on her own._


	17. Unwanted Insight

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Unwanted Insight

"We're splitting up," Bahamut growled before Cloud could protest again. "And that's final. The sooner we find Zeno, the better for us, for the kid, and for the Planet."

Cloud subsided, not liking the old dragon's plan in the least but unable to protest with it. "Fine. But I still don't like it! Jenova can just pick us off as easily as ever before if we're separated."

"Which is why I'm travelling by myself," Bahamut interjected calmly. "I can move faster that way. If all of you travel together, then you'll be safer, and I'll be able to use all of my powers without worrying about any of you."

"Bahamut," Aeris interrupted, clutching her hands together, "please, I want to go with you. I…I don't think I really fit in with the other people…"

Bahamut's eyes softened for a bare minute as he revealed his fangs in a toothy grin. "Aeris, it's all right," he told her in a soothing voice. "I'm sure they'll let you fit right in. Don't worry about it."

"B-but…" _But I want to go with you__…to find Zeno…_

_ _

_"If I find him before you do, Aeris, I'll bring him straight back," Bahamut whispered as if he could read her thoughts. "I promise." He smiled reassuringly before he turned back to Cloud. "Take the Highwind and try to get to all of the towns you can think of. Kalm, Mideel, the new Midgar—just make sure you thoroughly check through all of them. Try to remember what happened in the past, too. It's bound to repeat itself sooner or later, and with Jenova's twisted mind, she would probably lead Zeno in that direction. And…" he paused. "Be on your guards, all the time. There's no telling when Zeno or Jenova will appear; she's so powerful at this point that there's almost nowhere anyone can hide from her on this Planet." _

"Right." Cloud nodded.

"And whatever you do, make sure you watch Aeris especially." Bahamut sent Cloud a warning look. "You do remember what happened to her last time."

Cloud paled slightly at the question that was stated more as a remark. "I won't let it happen again," he forced through clenched teeth. "Even if I have to throw away my own life."

"Cloud! Aeris! Bahamut! The Highwind's clear for takeoff!" Yuffie's blithe voice yelled from her perch on the Highwind's deck. "Hurry up!"

Cloud and Bahamut met each other's eyes, mortal to immortal, staring at each other as if they were sizing one another up. Finally, Cloud extended his hand to the immortal.

"Good luck."

Bahamut unhesitatingly clasped the hand with his own. "And to you, too." He turned and started to walk away when he stopped in his tracks as if a thought had occurred to him. With one smooth motion, he flipped a round, glowing red object at Cloud, who barely managed to catch it with his battle-honed reflexes.

Cloud turned the orb over in his hands where it nestled comfortably in the round cup of one of his palms. The sheen of sunlight slanting down on it set off a rich, ruby sparkle that spilled over onto his gloves and seemed to stain them with blood.

"What is this?" the ex-mercenary asked blankly.

Bahamut laughed softly. "Forgotten already, Cloud? It's a summoning materia—one of my own. Use it in your times of need, and I will come, Cloud—not the astral me from before, but the real me. I will help you in any way that I possibly can. Hold onto it." With that, he bowed his head to the ground, closed his eyes, and grasped his staff tightly in both hands. With the hissing murmur of the dragon tongue, Bahamut's form quickly disappeared into thin air—a disappearance that was not saluted with a puff of smoke or any sound, but with pure silence. The area he had stood in a moment before was simply empty, as if nothing had even thought of standing there a few seconds earlier.

Cloud reached over his back and instinctively slipped the materia orb into one of the many slots on his Ultima Weapon before glancing over at Aeris.

"Come on, we'd better hurry."

Aeris nodded and the pair went jogging off towards the waiting airship. 

***

"Where to, Captain?" Dusk asked through her microphone as she maneuvered the Highwind into open sea.

Cid glanced at Cloud. "Um…"

There was no hesitation for Cloud; he immediately flipped the face his own microphone around and spoke into it. "We're going to Kalm."

"Affirmative," Dusk nodded. "Coordinates set for Kalm; approximate arrival in half an hour."

"Kalm? Why Kalm, Cloud?" Cid muttered to the blonde younger man out of the side of his mouth.

"Bahamut told me to go back to the past," Cloud replied. "Once Sephiroth returned, Kalm was the first place we went to. We also got some hints from the people there about Sephiroth, so…"

_"And after that was the chocobo farm, the Mythril Mines, Fort Condor, Junon and it's harbor, Costa Del Sol, North Corel, the Gold Saucer, Gongaga Village, Cosmo Canyon, and N-N…" Tifa's voice that had suddenly joined in on Cid and Cloud's conversation through the earphones that were attached to the microphones faltered. __"And Nibelheim," she finished. __"At least, I think that's where we went. We're missing more places, aren't we?"_

_ _

_"What about Rocket Town?" Shera asked from her position in the mechanics room. __"That's where you met Cid, remember?"_

_ _

_"I forgot about that," Cloud agreed._

" 'Forgot about'…Hey!" Cid yelled in an outraged voice. "Allow me to remind you that this is _my airship you lunatics are flying in!"_

_"And what else?" Tifa continued, ignoring Cid's outburst._

_"Wutai, but that's where we came from," Yuffie said, sounding surprisingly steady for one who was usually extremely airsick on any of the Highwind's flights._

"We might have to check that out anyway," Cloud mused. "There's a possibility that Zeno may return there, since that's where he was born and raised. Besides, we were just at Rocket Town, too, but I have a feeling that we should go back there just to be sure."

_"Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie…come down to the conference room for a minute," Vincent's cold voice interrupted. __"And remember to take off your earphones."_

_ _

_Cloud and Cid exchanged surprised looks before Cloud reached up and removed his earphones, setting them carefully down on a nearby console. "I guess I'd better go, then," he told the older pilot. "I wonder what he wants to talk about?"_

"Whatever," Cid grunted. "Just don't keep that guy waiting. Vincent isn't really much for patience, I don't think."

Cloud laughed and headed out of the Highwind's cockpit, trotting over the metal bridge that extended from the cockpit's exit over the engines and to the other side, where stairs were located that led down to the engines. Yuffie was sitting on the opposite side, staring down at her hands. It was only the noise of Cloud's heavy boots clanking against the metal that made her look up.

"Cloud…Do we really have to…go back to Wutai?" Yuffie asked, her voice actually sounding as if it were pleading with him. "I mean…is it absolutely necessary?"

Cloud paused as he stepped off of the bridge, resting a hand against his hip. "Well…I don't see why you don't want to go back, Yuffie, but I suppose we can check it later on."

"Thanks." A slightly relieved look crossed the young ninja's face as she turned away from him, submerging once more into her thoughts as she headed to the conference room.

Cloud followed the girl towards the conference room, half of his mind wondering why Yuffie was against returning to Wutai and the other half trying to piece together why Vincent wanted to talk to him. _It must be important, or else he wouldn't have asked us to talk to him, he thought. __But still…why just Tifa, Yuffie, and me?_

_ _

_Vincent was waiting for them when all three arrived, one after the other. He stood in the darkest corner of the unlit room with his eyes glowing brightly in the dark, his cloaked form only completely appearing to them once Tifa had reached out and flicked the lights on. He immediately unfolded himself from his blood red cape and stepped towards them, coldness glittering in his crimson eyes as it usually did. _

"What's this about, Mr. Vampire?" Yuffie asked right off the bat, apparently having recovered from her earlier pensiveness.

Vincent sent her a chilling look before he turned to Cloud, waiting for the door to firmly slide shut behind him before speaking.

"Don't call him Zeno anymore," he said without preamble.

"What?" Tifa asked intelligently.

"Don't call him Zeno anymore," Vincent repeated. "He is not the boy you knew before. Don't make it any worse by calling him by what you remember him as."

"Now, hold on one gosh darned minute!" Yuffie interjected, dark brown eyes narrowing. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that you three would only be hurting yourselves by giving him a name to which he does not answer to at the moment. You three," he continued, scanning the trio with his eyes, "remember Sephiroth well enough. And all of you should know that there might be a time in the future when we may have to take your 'nephew' down."

"But…but that doesn't mean we can't remember him as we used to!" Tifa sputtered in astonishment, still trying to make amends with what Vincent was saying.

Vincent closed his eyes in a gesture of patience; something that even Cloud had never seen him do before. Finally, he opened them again and fixed them all with his icy stare.

"Had I never raised Aeris, then I would not have brought this up to you three," he began again, speaking slowly and carefully as if he were afraid of the words that emerged from his mouth. "But I did, and because I did, I can now understand things concerning parental emotion. Therefore, I am warning all of you: Do not call Zeno by his name. I know that all three of you are close to Zeno on a certain extent, and I'm sure that each of you has some sort of maternal or paternal feeling for him. This was why Jenova chose to allow her son to be raised by normal humans; so that when she took him back and he destroyed everything, he would cause his foster parents more pain than anything else he could have inflicted upon them. Because I can imagine what that feeling of loss and betrayal must be like, I do not want anyone—not even you three—to go through that. To spare yourselves the emotional weakness that may come once we meet him, you must not remember him as Zeno—only as Sephiroth. For if we do end up fighting to the death against him, we will need everything we have to support ourselves and save the Planet from destruction. The Sephiroth now will not hesitate to kill any of you, just as he would not have paused in the past. All three of you must do the same. He is not your nephew, he isn't your son, he isn't your brother, he isn't even part of your family anymore. He is Sephiroth, and Sephiroth must be stopped from doing anything at all costs."


	18. Turklight Rhapsody

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Turklight Rhapsody

The Highwind landed with a slight thump practically nose-to-nose with Kalm's doorstep. Cloud climbed quickly down the rope ladder first, skipping the last few rungs to jump away from it and land lightly on his feet in a crouched position, sword hand immediately heading to his back to check his Ultima Weapon's position.

_"Because I can imagine what that feeling of loss and betrayal must be like, I do not want anyone—not even you three—to go through that."_

_ _

_Yuffie executed a neat somersault as she followed Cloud's dismount from the rope ladder, making a precise landing a few feet away from Cloud. Tifa opted for a more dignified way of getting off, and simply kept descending until her boots touched the long grass of the ground._

_"This was why Jenova chose to allow her son to be raised by normal humans; so that when she took him back and he destroyed everything, he would cause his foster parents more pain than anything else he could have afflicted upon them."_

_ _

_Aeris followed right after Tifa, curiosity shining in her Lifestream-green eyes as she examined the town in front of her. "What did they do to the ground?" she asked blankly as she stared at the dark blue to purple ground of Kalm._

Tifa laughed gently. "The people of Kalm tiled it, dear. It must be an annoyance to change the tiles every time Kalm shifts, but it's a sanitary luxury that allows the people to walk with slightly cleaner feet. Of course, someone has to wash it every so often."

"Tiles…" Aeris crept forward and cautiously placed a foot on the hard, smooth surface. 

Cloud walked confidently forward over the tiles, glancing over his shoulder to Aeris. "It's okay," he called. "It's a little slippery and might take some time to get used to, but it's pretty neat once you get the hang of it."

"O-okay." Aeris followed Tifa and Yuffie, watching her feet in fascination as they half-slid over the glassy surface.

_"Had I never raised Aeris, then I would not have brought this up to you three. But I did, and because I did, I can now understand things concerning parental emotion."_

_ _

_"Hey, travelers!" a middle aged man called out cheerfully as the quartet approached the center of the town. He waved at them as he finished the touches on the sign that hung over his shop. "Want to hear some of the latest gossip?"_

Tifa shot Cloud a quick look. "Yes, please. We've been sort of out of things lately."

"Well, there are some people in town who claim to have seen…" the man lowered his voice to a mysterious, dramatizing level. "Sephiroth."

"Oh, really?" Cloud asked, trying to sound calm. "What makes them think they saw him? He's dead, isn't he?"

"Apparently not," the man laughed. "These three might be totally out of their minds, I tell you. They wandered in completely dirty and shaken up and kept babbling something about Sephiroth. We asked them to prove it to us, but they just kept interrupting each other and jabbering away. Finally, I decided to lend them a room in my inn for the time being—at least until they recover their senses." He glanced around furtively before continuing. "They described him just how he was said to look way back then; long, silver hair, the pale skin of the dead, emerald eyes that could pierce your very soul, and carrying a long, silver sword at his side. Pretty amazing, huh?"

"Where are these three people now?" Cloud asked curiously. "Are they still here?"

"Yeah, upstairs," the man said, gesturing vaguely towards his inn. "Be careful if you want to see them. The red haired man likes to act cool and everything, but he's slightly temperamental. And the woman…jeez, you don't want to cross with her when she's on the wrong side of her mind. The big guy isn't that bad, but he keeps just staring off into space without a single word emerging from him. And as far as I know, all three of them have been drinking me out of house and home for the last hour or so."

"Thank you," Cloud said as he nodded to the others. They entered the inn and took the stairs to the room at the top.

"Do we know these three?" Tifa murmured to Cloud as they came within sight of the door that blocked them from the crazed trio. "They sound slightly familiar; in personality if not in physical appearance."

"I got that feeling, too," Cloud muttered back, putting a hand on the doorknob and turning it. "But it's probably just our imagina—"

As soon as the door swung open, Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie could only stare in open-mouthed shock at the people inside.

"Oh, my gawd," Yuffie remarked, her mouth working frantically as she broke the silence. "It's…them."

The deranged threesome was none other than the former Turks.

***

_"I mean that you three would only be hurting yourselves by giving him a name to which he does not answer to at the moment. You three remember Sephiroth well enough. And all of you should know that there might be a time in the future when we may have to take your 'nephew' down."_

_ _

***

It was no wonder that the people of Kalm didn't recognize the trio for one of the groups of Turks wanted by Midgar. They had changed drastically in appearance, from clothing to hair, and the only reason why Cloud and the other two recognized them was because they had been so pestered by the Turks in the past. Still, it was quite a shock to see all three of them alive—if not well.

The Turks had been hitting the bottle quite heavily, as could be plainly told by the sour stench of stale beer that filled the air, the beer bottles that were liberally scattered on the floor, and the bloodshot, unfocused eyes that turned to the group at their door. Reno's hair was still a long ponytail of red, but it looked even messier and wilder than before, if that was possible. Stringy strands hung in his bleary, sleep-deprived blue eyes, his entire chin was covered with a rough stubble of the beginnings of a beard, and his business shirt was half-hanging off of his body and out of his torn pants. He was leaning in a chair at the moment, a half full bottle hanging limply in his just as limp hand. 

Elena was most definitely not the groomed, business-oriented woman they had fought with before. Her blonde hair was darkening from lack of sunlight and reached easily to her waist, although that was hard to tell at the moment since she was propped up against the side of a messy, obviously slept-in bed. She, at least, still had her uniform on—or at least the top half of it. The dark blue vest that had marked the Turks was open at the chest, revealing her collared, wrinkled shirt underneath that was thankfully still almost all the way buttoned up and was long enough to cover up the top of her legs. She wasn't even awake; her head was tilted backwards against the side of the bed, hair spread behind her in one long clump that spoke of days without showering. She, like Reno, also had a beer bottle clutched in one had, but it was busily spilling out all of its contents onto the floor from the relaxation of her hands in sleep.

Rude was perhaps the most sane-looking one of the bunch, but he was still distinguishably drunk. He was simply wearing boxers and a shirt, sitting on a windowsill with at least a dozen empty beer bottles carefully lined up in front of him and his next one in his hands. His hair had made its debut appearance since the last time Cloud and the others had seen him and now grew in an uneven mop of brown hair, complete with stringy bangs and a slight beard like Reno's. He was actually sitting up and staring at Cloud, but from the blank expression on his face, nothing was clicking in his mind.

"Oh, wow," Yuffie remarked, a twisted grimace crossing her face as the sight and smell of the room hit her senses. "You three must be in deep crap."

Reno got to his feet very carefully, placed his beer bottle on the floor with exaggerated caution, and took one swaggering step forward. Cloud involuntarily held his hands out to steady the man when he threatened to tip over, but Reno's own determination didn't let him do that. With several stiff, zombie-like movements, Reno was in front of the foursome, staring at them with drunken blue eyes.

"Reno?" Cloud asked slowly, trying to see if anything would register with the former Turk. "It's Cloud. Remember us?"

Reno dragged his gaze from Cloud across to the others, ending with Aeris in the back. He brought his eyes painfully back to Cloud, stared at him thoughtfully, and then opened his mouth.

"I want my Mommy," he said in a clear voice before he finally tipped over and passed out.

"Did he just say…'I want my Mommy'?" Yuffie snorted with laughter as Cloud gingerly dragged Reno's body over next to Elena's.

"It would seem so," Tifa agreed as she stepped into the room, distastefully kicking glass aside. "I've seen drunks, but never like these. And only in an hour, too!"

Aeris crept into the room, leaned over, and sniffed one of the bottles. She immediately withdrew, coughing and gagging with a nearly cross-eyed expression. "Interesting," she commented weakly. "What…what is it?"

"It's, uh, a drink," Yuffie tried to explain while Tifa attempted to communicate with Rude in the background. "Like…spirits?"

"Spirits?" Aeris frowned. "You mean like what I hear in my head?"

Yuffie paused. "You…hear voices in your head?"

Aeris stopped, embarrassed. "Never mind."

Cloud returned to the conversing girls, wearing an extremely resigned expression on his face. "Go back and get the others, Aeris," he said. "If we want any information out of these three…we have a lot of work to do."

_"Therefore, I am warning all of you: Do not call Zeno by his name."_

__

***

Reno woke up when a shaft of sunlight, something that he hadn't seen in a long time, hit the lids of his closed eyes. He mumbled and instantly felt a pang move excruciatingly through his temples and the base of his forehead, scrambling his sluggish brain into further slowness.

_A hangover? What happened?_

_ _

_"Hey, Cloud, I think he's awake."_

The voice was familiar, but he remembered it as being slightly higher and more like a bird chirping out of tune. It was still the same voice, but a little lower and carrying the tone of slight maturity.

_Cloud…Cloud…Cloud…where have I heard that name before?_

_ _

_"What? Are you sure?"_

A male voice that time, not as deep as male voices went, but low enough to distinguish it from a female voice. 

"Yeah, he moved and said something under his breath."

_Cloud…Cloud…Cloud__!_

_ _

_Reno's eyes flew open as he remembered who that name belonged to, only to meet that exact same face hovering above his own. The sapphire, ocean blue eyes widened and the face jerked itself away as Reno sat up, ignoring the headache as he best could. _

Sure enough, it was that annoying mercenary, Cloud Strife. His eyes and especially his hair were still the same; dark blue, like the heart of a jewel, and golden spikes jutting out at random angles respectively. Standing behind him was the girl the first voice belonged to; the even more annoying ninja girl, Yuffie Kisaragi, who although had softened a bit in her sharp, tomboyish features, still retained a look of mischief in her Wutai eyes. Beyond her was that old pilot, Cid Highwind, the ex-Turk, Vincent Valentine, some woman who looked like she could be Vincent's sister, and Tifa Lockheart, who still the same, drop-dead gorgeous brunette Rude had been staring at long ago. And right next to Tifa was Aeris Gainsborough, the last of the Cetra…

…The same girl that died almost five years ago.

_ _

"What the—?!" Reno yelped, scrambling to his feet out of the bed and luckily realizing in time that he had pants on. He pointed a steady finger at the green-eyed angel, unable to believe his own eyes. "You! You died! Am I still drunk or something?"

Aeris must have been a little surprised and scared at his comment, for she backed away from him and shrank against the farthest wall, biting her lower lip.

Reno wheeled on Cloud next, bringing his finger around to point at the spiky-haired mercenary. "And you! What happened? Sephiroth didn't kill you?"

Cloud looked as if he were either on the verge of a hysterical breakdown or a scream of pure impatience. "No, he didn't. Reno—"

"I died and went to heaven, didn't I?!" Reno grabbed Cloud's thick turtleneck collar in both hands as he stared at him with wild eyes. "You can tell me the truth, you know. You're all dead. You all have to be dead."

Elena chose to wake up just then, opening her eyes with a groan as she sat up in the bed she had been placed in. Her only movement after that was to rub her hands against her temples, wincing in pain. Rude was the last one following Elena, but he simply sat straight up, stared blankly at the air in front of him, and then collapsed back onto the bed, eyes firmly shut.

"Reno…?" Elena removed her hands from her face and looked around. The first thing she saw was Reno grappling with Cloud as the latter attempted to remove the former Turk's hands away from his neck. She blinked several times, whacked the side of her head with the heel of her hand, and stared again. "Reno!"

"Elena!" Reno let go of Cloud's clothing and wheeled around, panic in his eyes. "Didn't they die? I'm not dead, am I?"

"No!" Tifa intervened, snapping out at them like a snake striking for the kill. She took a deep breath, trying to will patience onto herself. "No," she repeated. "None of you are dead. We just had a few questions for you."

"About what?" Reno asked, trying to regain his composure as he scooped up his fallen shirt and slipped it on.

"About…Sephiroth."

_"To spare yourselves the emotional weakness that may come once we meet him, you must not remember him as Zeno—only as Sephiroth." _

_ _

_Almost immediately at the mention of Sephiroth's name, Reno recoiled and took quite a few steps away from Cloud while Elena turned a shade paler than her current ivory pallor, if that was possible. "S-Sephiroth?" Elena gasped out while Reno simply stared at Cloud from beneath wild bangs. She began trembling slightly. "We…we saw him. I swear we did! He murdered a Midgar Zolom in that godforsaken swamp just a few hours ago. We were wandering through the Mythril Mines when we heard some noise outside. So all three of us poked our heads out of one of the Mines' exits and saw him. His back was to us, but it was him, all right; you could tell from the silver hair and the black trench coat. He was facing off against a big Zolom with his sword sheathed at his side and making no move at all to get it. Then the snake attacked—you know how fast the Zolom are, right?"_

"Yeah," Cloud agreed, remembering one of the Zoloms he and his friends had fought with long ago. They were basically huge snakes made almost entirely of muscle, giving them an amazing amount of speed and strength that made it hard to dodge—or even live through—an encounter with one of them. "Those things are like lightning."

"Sephiroth just dodged it."

"What?"

"It's true!" Reno interrupted, coming out of his temporary stupor to add in his own two cents. "One minute he was standing there, the next, the snake had struck and he was standing at least six feet to the side of the Zolom's head. It sort of got the Zolom mad, because it immediately attacked again. And you know what?"

"He dodged it again?" Cloud asked.

Now Rude sat up once more, staring at Cloud with haunted eyes. "Yes, and every other time after that. Even when that reptile was beginning to falter, he wasn't even breaking out in a sweat, much less breathing any harder than when he started. Then he just walked straight up to the Zolom's head, grabbed it, jumped into the air, and impaled the skull straight through some old dead tree that was there. And get this—the tree had to have been at least twenty-five feet high. Sephiroth made the entire jump with room to spare, _and while carrying the Zolom."_

Tifa's eyes widened slightly. "You're positive you weren't imagining it?"

Elena nodded vigorously, hair flying about her head in her anxiety to prove her truthfulness. "You can check if you want to; it was still there when we left it."

"What happened to Sephiroth?" Aeris asked abruptly, speaking for the first time since they had encountered the Turks.

"He disappeared," Reno whispered. "He just…vanished. As if he were never there…No smoke, no noise, nothing. Just him there…and then empty air."

_"He is not your nephew, he isn't your son, he isn't your brother, he isn't even part of your family anymore. He is Sephiroth, and Sephiroth must be stopped from doing anything at all costs."_


	19. One More Moment

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

One More Moment 

"They weren't kidding," Cloud muttered, giving a low whistle of resignation under his breath. "That is definitely inhuman."

After having left the three Turks in Kalm with very major hints alluding to the fact that the Turks were better off staying far away from Midgar, Cloud and the rest had headed over to the swamp that surrounded one of the entrances to the Mythril Mines. This time, only the Highwind's crew stayed aboard—with the exception of Cid and Dusk—while the rest headed out over the swamp on foot, gingerly picking their way through surprisingly lucid water whose clarity was only disturbed by the wave of mud each step forward brought to the surface. Cloud was in the lead, carefully working out a path that would take them through areas where the water was only about knee deep at the worst. Certain precautions were at their extremes here; despite the calm look of the water's surface, there were sudden deep drops that could lead an unwary traveler to a suffocating death as they sunk to the bottom of the hole. Most often, those holes were either filled with tough, grasping weeds that would easily get tangled in clothing and equipment, or by the massive, scaled bulk of one of the endangered Midgar Zoloms that lived in the swamp. Napping Zoloms did not like to be disturbed, and waking one was only slightly better than actually running into an active, searching, and hungry Zolom. A sleepy Zolom would go for the kill instantly without seeing who was causing the disturbance in a lightning-quick attack that only one of its fellow Zoloms could survive. A wide-awake Zolom, on the other hand, preferred to toy with their would-be food before actually finishing them off. If things got out of hand, the Zolom would simply flick the prey out of the swamp and return to searching for a less rambunctious meal. If not, then the poor animal could be broken, bleeding, and unable to move except in pain by the time the Zolom was ready to get down to business and finish it off.

Zoloms were snakelike in appearance and typically about twenty to thirty feet long from snout to tail tips, proudly sporting fangs the length of a man's forearm. Those sharp fangs were placed in a mouth that could easily snap an adolescent child up in seconds while stuffing a full grown human's leg into the corners of its jaws for dessert. However, they did not like to leave the cool comfort of their marshy habitat and had notoriously short life spans that went from when they were born to when their children were born. In deference to their offspring, the adult Zoloms would usually quietly starve to death and leave the home to their children. Their litters, however, yielded an uncountable amount of baby Zoloms that were capable of fending for themselves as soon as they have hatched. Most of the time, only one Zolom shadow is seen aimlessly circling the marsh, but the grounds below the visible surface were filled with holes and caves that housed possibly dozens of Zoloms. 

It was also almost practically impossible to kill one without summoning the rest of its family to its aid.

That was the reason why the way this Zolom was killed simply left the group stunned and unable to utter a single word.

The long, almost silvery body of a Zolom twisted upwards into the sky, its curving spiral ending where its head lay impaled through the sharp tip of a dead tree that looked as if it could barely support the weight of the huge reptile. As if some unseen force were poking fun at the spectators, this Zolom was easily the biggest one Cloud and any of the others had ever seen, reaching to almost fifty feet as they could judge from the coiled length. Blood seemed to drip from an endless supply from the Zolom's impaled skull, running down the length of the serpent's hide or simply splashing into the lake of blood already gathered below. One of its menacing yellow eyes, although clouded over in a fuzzy sheathe of white, glared balefully down at the group beneath it as if they were the cause of its death.

"Oh, gross," Yuffie complained as she caught sight of a small portion of the Zolom's brain sticking out of the side of its shattered skull. "I think I'm going to be sick." She followed up on that threat with faint retching noises, fortunately all of which produced no results. 

"Dad, what _is that thing, anyway?" Aeris asked Vincent, curiosity fighting with disgust in her large, light green eyes._

"It's called a Midgar Zolom," Vincent replied absently as he fingered the Death Penalty gun at his side. "I believe Reeve named it an endangered species."

Dusk, meanwhile, calmly stalked up to the creature's rigid coils and placed a hand against the cooling scales. She gently ran her hand over the skin, listening to her gloved hand rustle against the hide. Her head bent sideways as if she were waiting for something, eyes closing halfway.

"She's not the only one left," Dusk finally announced, letting her hand fall back to her side and instead reach for the hilt of her sword. "She's had her share of children and lived for almost a century, kept going because her litters were not large enough. She was the oldest Zolom living here…"

"How do you know all that?" Aeris asked with her insatiable curiosity of the world.

Dusk studied the girl with calm, crimson red eyes before nodding. "Come here."

Aeris stepped forward almost instantly, eager to learn more. She waited by Dusk'sside for further instructions.

Dusk reached out and took Aeris' hand, placing it palm down on the Zolom with her own hand covering the girl's. "Listen," she said simply, without any further explanation.

Aeris frowned and closed her eyes, trying to strain her ears for any sound at all. All she heard was Yuffie shifting impatiently behind her and Cid yawning widely. Cloud, Tifa, and Vincent remained silent and on guard, almost as if they were waiting for something to happen.

"No." Dusk's cold voice pierced Aeris' concentration as neatly as a needle through cloth. "You're not doing it right. Listen with what is inside of you, not what is outside."

_With what's inside of me…? Aeris furrowed her brow, wondering what Dusk meant. __What is inside of me that can hear something my ears can't?_

_ _

_Dusk sighed audibly and firmly placed her second hand over her first one, completely encasing Aeris' hand. "Concentrate and listen, Aeris."_

As if Dusk's added hand had brought more support to her, Aeris instinctively retreated to the back of her mind and reached out with a strength she knew she had used before. Perhaps she had never described it the way Dusk had, but it was there and she knew that she had used it at least once. 

The rough hide underneath her hand began to throb, as if the corpse still possessed a heartbeat.

As if it were still alive and breathing.

In a bare breath, all of the memories that belonged to the shutting down brain of the Zolom came flooding into her own, filling her with experiences and thoughts that she had never known before. She saw a crack of light appearing in the shell of her egg as her tongue flicked out to taste the sweet air. A huge, towering silver body nearby was her mother; another, dark gray one that was rapidly sliding away into the water, was her father. She saw herself growing and maturing, watching as a young male her own age sidled up to her and caressed her neck with his own. She felt the pain that she bore silently as she laid her first batch of eggs, breathing on them to warm them and curling around them until they hatched. She watched her children grow and die from competition, only the strongest living into adulthood. She mated again and birthed again, over and over again, until she grew too old to support her eggs until they hatched. 

In the later years of the old Zolom's memory, Aeris saw the Zolom watching helplessly as one of her latest children hungrily attacked a human man. The man easily defeated her child and impaled him upon a tree—the very same tree, Aeris realized, the Zolom was lying on now. Then, not too long after, another one of her sons went after a wandering group of humans. The human in the lead was a young man with distinctively spiky blonde hair that jutted out in all directions. A massive, deep red creature that looked like a cross between a lion and a wolf followed him.

And in the back, clutching a staff to her with one hand gripping a glowing red orb, was…

_…Me?!_

__

***

Cloud's hand involuntarily tightened its grip on his sword's hilt as Aeris' eyes flew open the next second after Dusk had spoken. She stumbled backwards, snatching her hand away from Dusk's as if the silent woman's were on fire. Her eyes were wide open in shock and surprise as she stared wildly at Dusk.

"What was I doing there?!" Aeris demanded, a question that triggered the instinctive "_what the heck is she talking about?"__ question in Cloud's mind. She held her hand to her chest, biting her lower lip. "Those…memories were from the past. Why was I there?"_

Dusk shrugged calmly and glanced over Aeris' shoulder at Vincent. "I cannot tell you that, Aeris. But someone else can probably answer many of your questions for you, those ones in the back of your mind that Bahamut chose not to reveal the answers to."

"How…did you know that Bahamut…" Aeris began.

Dusk cut her off calmly. "I know."

"Will someone mind telling us what the hell just happened?" Yuffie requested in what she felt was a reasonably calm enough voice.

"That might have to wait," Dusk replied. She extended a finger over the group's heads, pointing to an area in the sky. "I don't know who that is, Cloud, but it's your choice whether to hide or stand our ground."

Cloud strained his eyes to their limits trying to see what Dusk was referring to. He finally saw it as the object drew steadily closer, growing from nothing to a speck and finally to a visible dot. With its appearance came the steady noise of helicopter rotors beating at the air.

"Damn," he swore. "Can anyone make out what the hell that helicopter says?"

" 'Reeve Sith Inc.', " Dusk and Vincent said simultaneously without either one of them batting an eyelash.

Cloud didn't relax in the slightest. "Reeve? But…that helicopter just looks like the old Shinra one! And it sounds like it, too!"

Even Tifa stiffened visibly as the helicopter grew more distinct in noise and appearance. "I know this sounds stupid, but the way that engine is going…well, it just reminds me of Shinra."

"So what do we do, oh glorious leader?" Yuffie asked Cloud, sparing enough breath to add in enough sarcasm to her tone. "Shall we flee like rabbits or greet the dude properly?"

Cloud shook his head slowly. "We'll wait. Even though he spied on us early on, Reeve was never really an enemy. We may have lost contact with him once he took over Midgar, but there's no reason why he'd go plotting something behind our backs. Greet this…emissary of Reeve's like any normal person, all of you."

Yuffie snorted. "And the limits of naiveté are being tested right now. I never liked that guy, Cloud. And it wasn't just the fact that he communicated with us through a giant, oversized stuffed animal. Face it; we've _never seen this guy before in person."_

"So what are you saying?" Cloud asked irritably. "That we should just run away _now?"_

"Too late…" Vincent muttered cryptically under his breath as the helicopter drew in next to the Highwind for a landing.

Cid swore softly. "Let's go. I don't trust what that bastard might do to my Highwind if I'm not there to protect it."

The group began picking their way back through the swamp, careful to take the same route they had used on the way over. "I can't believe you guys," Cloud complained as they approached the other side of the marsh. "What do we have to distrust him for?"

"He took over Shinra," Yuffie reminded him evenly. "Anyone who wants to take over that godforsaken company has _got to be out of their minds in the least."_

"Well, he did say that he planned to reform Midgar with his new influence," Tifa added in softly, trying to play peacemaker between the prickly ninja and Cloud. "But he never said _how he was going to do it. The ends don't always justify the means, especially if you're so caught up in the means that you lose sight of the ends. Reeve never did seem too tenacious when he was traveling with us. It might be easy for him to lose track…"_

They all fell silent as they slogged out onto dry ground, dripping water from the knees down as they waited for the helicopter doors to open and reveal who was inside. Almost as soon as the last person had stepped out of the water, the added in passenger door closest to them popped open and a man dressed in a crisp business suit climbed stiffly out. He turned to them, crossing his arms over his chest and fixing them with a penetrating stare with dark brown eyes. Overall, he seemed rather unimpressive, what with the short black hair and moustache on his upper lip that melted in with a neat beard. However, his stance said that he was someone who was considered to be important—by either himself or by other—and that he would only take truthful answers to any of his questions.

"We have had reports of one of the endangered Midgar Zoloms being killed out here," he began in a firm, deep voice. "Are any of you in any way involved with this?"

Cloud blinked. "No. Is that all you came out here to ask us?"

The man paused. "No. I also came here because of a report of an airship that is very familiar to me flying and landing in this area. Now, who are you people and why do you fly in the airship that belonged to someone I knew?"

Tifa frowned. "Wait a minute…I know that voice of yours."

"Answer my question first, please, miss," the man cut her off. His eyes alighted on her and blinked rapidly, although whether he was surprised by Tifa's somewhat stunning appearance or because he distantly remembered her was hard to tell. 

Cloud replied quickly for the group, sparing any more awkward moments in his anxiety to learn the stranger's name. "My name is Cloud Strife. Now tell me why you seem to damned familiar."

"Cloud…Strife?" The man's eyes widened as his eyes met Cloud's. He shook his head in astonishment. "Why I would not remember those spikes is beyond me. I'm Reeve Sith. Remember me?"

"Uh…" Cloud floundered, at a loss for words. "I, uh…remember your robot, Cait Sith, but I don't think we've ever met in person before."

"I thought so," Tifa muttered in a slightly smug voice. 

"Why are all of you together like that?" Reeve continued, glancing over the others. "Is there some sort of reunion going on or something? Wait…where's Barret and that lion animal…Red XIII?"

Cloud exchanged a look with Tifa. "Maybe we'll…tell you later?"

Reeve nodded. "Fair enough. Hey, how about if you all come back with me to the new Midgar? You haven't visited for a while, have you? I think you'd be surprised as to how much it's changed since four years ago."

"Sounds cool," Cloud agreed. "So, we'll meet you there?"

"Follow the helicopter," Reeve returned as he slid back inside of the dark confines of his vehicle. The door closed with a slight slam as the rotors immediately started up, lifting the helicopter into the air and whipping the group's hair around along with the wind.

"Well, let's go," Cloud said, glancing back at Cid.

Cid nodded. "Yeah, might as well. 'Kay, everyone, back inside. We're going for a ride."

Yuffie groaned as the group began ascending the rope ladder to reach the deck of the airship, her face turning distinctively green as she stared upwards.

"Oh, gods, please answer me this question…Why in the name of Leviathan did you bless me with such an intolerable stomach?"

Any answer to Yuffie's plaintive question was lost in the noise of helicopter blades swiftly biting at the air intertwined with the noise of the Highwind's engine starting up. And to add a bit of harmony to it was Yuffie's own gagging noises that seemed to be producing more results than her earlier display.


	20. Rising From the Ashes

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

Rising From the Ashes

The Highwind landed on a cleared landing pad that was an extension of the old Shinra Headquarters. Cloud was too busy trying to keep his jaw from hitting the floor of the Highwind's cockpit to say anything, and whether his mouth kept dropping from shock or amazement was hard to tell. Yuffie, on the other hand, was making no such attempt to conceal her own astonishment and simply let her jaw obey gravity. 

"Oh, my God!" she finally exclaimed, drawing out the "God" to accent her surprise. "What happened to the trash heap that this place used to be?"

"For sure," Cid agreed as he lit up a new cigarette to replace the one he had dropped on the (luckily, metal) floor of the Highwind. 

Midgar was no longer the dark, foreboding city it used to be. If anything at all, the place positively sparkled from the outskirts of what once were the slums to the tip of the old Shinra Headquarters. Trees, a rare sight in the past, grew in scattered areas about the city from which children excitedly darted in and out of. Sector Seven had been rebuilt and was just as clean and full of life as any of the other Sectors. Sun seemed to stream endlessly into every crack of every home, lending an even more lively appearance to the people there.

"There's something missing," Aeris muttered under her breath. She—and Vincent—seemed to be the only people unaffected by the drastic changes in Midgar. The former had never even seen the city as it had previously been in her current life, and the latter showed little to none emotion on a regular basis. 

"What's that, dear?" Tifa asked, turning away from the window to glance back at Aeris.

Aeris shrugged, twisting a lock of chestnut brown hair with her first three fingers. "I don't know. The place just looks like something is missing." Her eyes lit up as a thought apparently hit her quite hard in the head. "I got it! Dad, what were those colorful things you showed me a long time ago called? They were living right outside of the waterfall and they smelled really nice."

"Flowers?" Vincent supplied.

Aeris nodded enthusiastically. "Flowers! That's what this place is missing. I mean, isn't it strange that all of those trees are growing right there, but flowers aren't?"

"We might be too high up for you to see the flowers," Tifa replied placidly. "I'm sure there are plenty."

_Wait a second…now that I think about it, there weren't any flowers that I could see when we were flying pretty low over Midgar, Cloud thought as he turned back to the others and began dragging Yuffie away from her view. __Oh, well. If trees can grow here, why can't flowers? There must be some around here somewhere._

_ _

_Reeve met all of them at the base of the Highwind's ladder, arms patiently folded across his chest. "So, does the city meet with your standards?" he asked Cloud with a broad grin._

Cloud nodded in a dazed way that belied his complete shock. "I almost can't recognize it!" he said, unable to truly describe the amazement that was coursing through his mind. "What did you do?"

Reeve laughed. "Simple enough. Once I was established as leader, I…" his voice trailed off as Aeris slid down the last few rungs of the ladder, brushing her hands off. "Aren't you dead?" he asked weakly.

"What, me?" Aeris asked, glancing around before pointing questioningly towards herself. "Um…no. I get that a lot, though."

Reeve shook his head slowly as if he were afraid he was dreaming. "I'm pretty sure I saw you die…but…I guess I missed you back at the swamp." He extended a hand towards Aeris, offering a smile along with it. "I'm Reeve Sith."

"Aeris Valentine," she replied brightly as she took Reeve's hand.

At that, Reeve sent another stunned look towards Vincent, who chose to coolly disregard the man's expression. "V-Valentine? Uh…nice to meet you." He turned back to Cloud and gestured for the ex-mercenary and the others to begin walking as they headed towards the doors that led to the inside of the Headquarters. "Would you mind explaining what the hell happened?" he asked out of the side of his mouth to Cloud. "I'm sure it's a long story, but indulge me, please."

Cloud laughed, half-amused and half-embarrassed. "Well…truth be told, I'm not that sure, either…"

***

Dusk didn't like or trust the place, right from the moment she had stepped off of the Highwind up till now. It wasn't the false, cheery atmosphere of the Headquarters so much as the veiled, furtive, but still visible glances of the President towards her. If she didn't know that this man was the one who had put a reward on her head, she wouldn't have thought so much of it. The others didn't seem to be tense in the slightest, and Cloud was chatting away with the President as amicably as anyone would with an old friend. However, a persistent finger of danger kept running up and down her spine, making the hairs on the back of her neck rise and prickle in response while her muscles tensed in preparation for action.

_Of course, I've changed a lot since the time that picture was taken, she thought as they were led into the heart of the building. Dusk eyed the guards lined up on the sides of the hallway, trying to restrain herself from making the instinctive reach for her sword. __But that doesn't mean that he can't completely recognize me…_

_ _

_The wide, gray hallway split off into a fork up ahead with one large double doorway in between. Reeve headed straight towards the dark red double door, nodding to the two guards that stood on either side. They simultaneously reached around and opened the doors, standing at attention with the doors' handles in their hands and waiting for the party to enter._

_They're very well disciplined, Dusk mused to herself as she brought up the rear. __Even more so than when Shinra was still ruling. She took a quick glance into the eyes of one of the soldiers as she passed, noting the emotions that were inside of them. __They like him, but they fear him for what he can do. He runs on a perfectly Machiavellian method of ruling. I wonder what his company runs on, though…surely not Mako energy…_

_ _

Reeve took the large, leather seat behind an expansive gray metal desk that was placed in the middle of the room. He looked right at home in the midst of technology and paperwork, hands folded in the typical businessman way in front of him on his desk.

"First of all, there are many things that I should probably tell you," Reeve began without preamble. "And some of them I know you're not going to like. I didn't think that we would meet again, but now we have, and I am obligated to inform you on what the company that was formerly known as Shinra is currently doing. Do you all promise to hear me out before speaking?"

Dusk nodded only after the others had agreed, trusting in their knowledge of this man to guide their common sense. _I could just be imagining things, she thought as another tingle ran up her spine._

Reeve smiled quietly. "Very well. First of all, the Sith company is directed towards building a better life within Midgar. We have improved the city and the living conditions of the people enormously since you have last seen it and the slums have all been obliterated. There are schools throughout each Sector and plenty of jobs for each working adult or teenager. I am also pleased to say that my company has received a tremendous amount of support and approval from the people."

He abruptly leaned forward in his seat, raising his clasped hands so that they were now a handy rest for his chin. "Now we come to the part I think all of you will not like."

"What is it?" Cloud asked when Reeve hesitated. "It can't be that bad. I mean, you've already done so much for this city!"

"Then here it is," Reeve replied quietly. "Our company needs to run and produce money to provide for the city. Therefore, we have turned to something that Shinra was ill known for in the past.

"We harvest Mako."

"Are you out of your mind?!" Yuffie exploded not a breath after Reeve had finished speaking. "This was the very thing we were fighting against five years ago!"

Dusk stiffened at Yuffie's exclamation, telltale shivers of danger now running in continuous laps up and down her back. She darted her eyes from side to side, observing each corner and shadowed area of the room, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as she reached for her sword.

"Hear me out," Reeve replied, holding out a hand to placate the enraged ninja. "The company can't run on just words and promises, Yuffie! The Planet has to have regenerated itself since five years ago! Besides, we don't strip it of Mako as ruthlessly as Shinra did."

"That's not the point, Reeve," Cloud snapped, for the first time completely losing his patience ever since he had stepped inside of the new Headquarters. "You're going against everything that we lived and nearly died for in the past! Almost all of us here threw away our futures trying to save what could possibly not be saved, and you're just completely forgetting that! If Sephiroth were here—"

Reeve abandoned his seat to rise to his feet, frowning angrily at Cloud as the ex-mercenary took one angry step forward. "I am not forgetting anything!" he interrupted defensively. "Don't think that I can't remember what that silver-haired bastard did to the lives of so many helpless people! But that's in the past, Cloud, and Sephiroth isn't going to come back!"

"Aeris did," Cloud returned stonily, making a swift gesture behind him towards the girl. "She's standing right before you, Reeve. If Aeris came back, why can't Sephiroth?"

"He's dead," Reeve replied with a shake of his head. "He can't come back; the only thing that could possibly bring him back would be Jenova, and she's dead, too. You're all just overreacting."

"You idiot!" Yuffie roared, frustration tingeing her face a delicate light red. "He _is back! Who do you think killed that Zolom out there, huh? It was _him_! Sephiroth's back, and so is Jenova!"_

There was a stunned silence that filled the air of the room as Reeve stared in disbelief at the girl. Then, before anyone could react, his right hand deftly slipped under the counter of his desk and pressed something unseen to the others.

The double doors swung open in seconds as soldiers filed in, surrounding the group in mere minutes. They formed a tight circle around the travelers, lowering rifle muzzles towards them while ominous clicking noises of guns cocking echoed off of the walls in the room.

Dusk and Vincent were the only ones unfazed by the security reaction. The former had her sword out into a defensive position before the first click of a cocking gun sounded, and Vincent's own gun was cocked into ready as the other soldiers prepared their guns. The pair stood waiting for action while Cloud and the rest gaped in astonishment at Reeve's betrayal.

"You are all clearly mad and would threaten my company if I let you go," Reeve spoke in a soft voice. "I have no choice but to take you prisoner."

"Do you think we'll go down without a fight?" Cloud snarled as he reached over his back and took hold of the hilt of his cleaver blade, ocean blue eyes glinting dangerously. Tifa followed his example as she swung back into a fighting stance, while Cid lowered his spear and Yuffie curled her fingers around her shuriken and origami. 

"No, I don't," Reeve replied calmly. "But I do believe there is someone in your ranks who is unarmed and helpless."

The comment registered in Vincent's mind before anyone else's. He whirled around immediately to find Aeris, but his searching eyes only met the sight of his daughter being dragged away at gunpoint by two soldiers. She was squirming and putting up a decent fight for someone who had lived a sheltered and confined life, but she was no match for the two highly trained guards.

"Dad!" Aeris wailed in terror as the muzzle of a gun was pressed against her temple. Her Lifestream green eyes shifted towards the source of pressure, widening in fear as she saw the man's finger tense on the trigger.

"Surrender, or I will give the order to shoot her," Reeve announced calmly. "And don't think that I won't hesitate, Cloud. She is disposable by my standards."

Cloud stared at the traitor, gripping the hilt of his sword even tighter so that the leather of his gloves made a creaking noise against it. He glanced backwards at Aeris, whose eyes were tightly shut in anticipation of what would come. Tifa sent him a pleading entreaty in her doe-brown eyes, while Cid simply kept staring straight ahead, Dusk retained her tensed fighting stance, and Yuffie looked as if she had just swallowed a lemon. 

It was only the pained expression in Vincent's crimson eyes that made Cloud lower his sword. Those same eyes had been devoid of any hint of emotion for so long that it took a few moments for Cloud to recognize the one surge of sentiment in the tall dark man, but once he did, it was enough for Cloud. He slowly dropped his sword out of the ready stance and placed it on the ground with the click of metal meeting metal.

As if that had been the cue the others were waiting for, Tifa dropped out of her stance, stripping her hands of her gloves and resting them on the floor beside her while the rest immediately pulled their weapons out of ready and set them on the ground. Cloud crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Reeve, feeling his own anger smolder in his eyes.

Reeve nodded. "Thank you," he replied simply as he waved at soldiers to take the weapons away. He stepped around his desk and entered the circle of guards, watching his prisoners with calculating eyes. His wandering eyes finally came to a halt on Dusk and Vincent, narrowing with an indescribable mix of emotions in them.

"Vincent, I know you were of the Turks," he said quietly. "And I know you slept for thirty something years, but that doesn't prove your innocence enough. Until I have finished with your file, you will be held prisoner along with the rest.

"And as for you, young lady," he continued, turning towards Dusk. The woman tensed again, her hand flinching towards the sword that remained out of her reach in the custody of guards. "You…have changed. I almost didn't recognize you, but there is no mistaking who you are. Your files clearly described you and your fate, Aya Li."

Dusk straightened her shoulders and threw Reeve a proud, but withering look of contempt. "And what do you expect to do with me?"

"Why, absolutely nothing, of course. But there was some information in your files that is of interest to one of my new workers." Reeve gestured towards a new figure that had just broken through the closely-knit circle of guards and was making his way towards them. "Meet Rei, my new local scientist."

If anything at all, Rei was the opposite of his predecessor in the science department. He was young, tall, and walked proudly, without the bent over slouch Hojo used to make his way around the building. His hair was a pale, platinum blonde in a short cut while his complexion was fairly glowing with health. The only apparent similarity between him and Hojo was the white lab coat and thin glasses they both wore or had worn, both marking their status as a scientist.

It wasn't until Cloud met Rei's eyes did he realize that, despite his youthful and sanitary appearance, the new scientist was just as crazed and malicious as Hojo was. Although his eyes were a startling shade of purple, they shone with a faint gleam of greed and hunger for more knowledge and power. The only expression that registered in them as he looked towards Dusk—_or…this Aya person? Cloud though—was one of glee._

"Ah, so you're my new specimen," he muttered with a cheerful glide in his surprisingly steady and light voice. "So nice to meet you."

"I'm sorry if I can't express the same feelings towards you," Dusk snapped back, giving no ground as the scientist snaked forward. 

"No hard feelings," Rei agreed good-naturedly as he came to a stop nearby Dusk. "Now, if you'll just follow me…" He turned and began to leave.

Dusk saw her one opening and took it, blind rage filling her vision with a veil of red. She leapt forward with a quick spring of her legs and attacked Rei with an expert kick obviously meant to take the scientist down.

Rei whirled around before the kick connected with his temple and caught Dusk's foot in his hand. "Tsk, tsk," he clucked at the faintly stunned woman. "What part of 'no hard feelings' did you not understand?"

Dusk growled and threw her weight to the side, wrenching her foot free of Rei's grasp. With a quick spin of one supporting leg, she hooked another kick around at Rei, aiming once more for his head. Rei ducked into a crouch on the ground, sweeping at Dusk's foot with one leg. She brought both legs together and jumped over his leg barely in time, lashing out with another kick as she came down. Rei twisted aside as her boot's heel whistled through the edge of his hair, ruffling his neat hairstyle somewhat but not bothering the man in the least bit. He executed his own attack, using a kick-punch combination that drove Dusk to somersault backwards out of his reach. Despite her reaction, Rei's speed was great enough to connect with Dusk's arm as she spun away. The force of the blow connecting caused her to come out of her retreat too early, leaving her in a bare crouch on the ground as she gasped in pain and surprise at the weight of the blow Rei had landed. 

"If you would please stop this nonsense and follow me…" Rei began. Although his tone of voice sounded annoyed and impatient, the glint in his eyes betrayed his clear enjoyment of Dusk's fighting reaction.

Dusk responded by throwing herself once more at the man, throwing punch after kick in consecutive bursts. Rei managed to dodge a few, but he received the brunt of most of the blows. Dusk abruptly backed away, panting heavily and almost drooping from exertion. 

Rei straightened out of his defensive crouch and smiled at Dusk. "Ah, ah, ah," he admonished with a twitch of one extended pointer finger. "My turn now."

Dusk's eyes widened as Rei darted towards her, his speed startling her into defenselessness. Before she knew it, a punch had connected solidly with her gut in a crippling burst of pain that spread throughout her entire body. She doubled over with a tiny cry of agony, gritting her teeth and doing her best to ignore the pain as she brought a knee up to connect with Rei's groin. Rei, however, perceived her attack and fully blocked her pitiful attempt with one twist of an arm. In one swift sweep of a leg, he tripped Dusk to the ground, letting her crash painfully on her back and giving her an extra push on her shoulders so that her landing was even more agonizing. Before she could try to recover, he had a boot placed firmly on her chest and pressing downwards on her lungs. Dusk struggled for a long minute before she slowed and finally ceased, eyes dropping downwards and face going ashen as her oxygen was cut away from her.

Rei immediately lifted his boot and motioned for a soldier to pick Dusk up for him. "Well, then, I'll be going!" he announced to Reeve in a voice so cheerful that it sounded as if he stood by for hours practicing that one tone. "You can find me in my lab." With that, he made a half skip, half leap out of the room, the guard carrying Dusk following with the faithful, fawning obedience of a dog.

Despite the tragedy that had just occurred, Cloud couldn't help but stare after the violet-eyed scientist and his pompous exit. _He's…almost nothing like Hojo…in personality, at least._

_ _

_Trapped, the team could do nothing but allow themselves to be shackled by the security teams and led away, at least a pair of guards between each member. This precaution kept any ally from making eye contact—or sending messages silently—between each other, and thus preventing a possible rebellion at that moment. Cloud saw this immediately and glared at the back of Reeve's bobbing dark head that went in and out of sight from between the two equally dark heads of the guards between himself and the President. _

_Damn him, he thought viciously. __What the hell happened here, anyway? And damn me, too, for being so naïve…should have listened to Yuffie and Cid…_

_ _

_The prisoner security area looked almost the same as it did five years ago, except instead of the multiple cells there were now only two large cells, one on each side of the hallway. Cloud, Vincent, and Cid were forced into one cell while Tifa, Yuffie, and Aeris were herded into the opposite one. The walls all around were solid, and as soon as the cell door slid shut, the girls' faces were out of visible sight. Cloud kicked one of the four cots the cell held, venting his frustration out and taking a twisted pleasure in the pain that ensued due to the surprising solidity of the furniture._

"We," Cid announced calmly once Cloud was done muttering to himself over the stab of pain, "are screwed." 


	21. Beyond the Shadow of Memory

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

Beyond the Shadow of Memory

Two hours after fruitless searching of every inch of the tightly sealed cell, Cloud gave up and slumped against the locked door of the room, the tips of his spiked hair touching his pulled up legs as he half-hung his head in despair. "That little bastard," he whispered quietly. "Why couldn't he understand?"

"Money, Cloud," Cid snorted, lying on his back on one of the lumpy cots. He shifted his weight in an attempt to get comfortable that proved to be just as hopeless as Cloud's earlier search. "Money makes the world go around, kid."

Vincent sat in a cross-legged position, wedged in one of the corners of the place with his arms crossed and his cape spread over his shoulders. "It was Aya, too," he said softly. "They took her because of what she is."

Cloud's head bounced back up as he fixed the dark man with his sapphire eyes. "Speaking of which, Vincent, I think it's about time you told us just who 'Aya' is. You knew her from before, didn't you?"

Vincent nodded slowly, crimson eyes narrowing for a bare breath. "I knew her when she truly was still Aya, not the woman you both know as Dusk. I can't remember very far back, but I know that we were close, like brother and sister. She was the only family I can remember. We joined the Turks at almost the same time, just a year from each other. I can't remember who inspired who to join, though; we were both just looking for jobs that suited our street lives, and the position of a Turk was there. The Turks were newly established at that time, but Shinra had been around for at least a decade before that. The old Shinra President Cloud served under had just picked up the business from his father that decade after the establishment and began expanding his forces with the Shinra walls. This included the founding of the Turks, whose real jobs were to actually carry out all of the dirty work that Shinra himself couldn't handle, and the hiring of Hojo, who was a few years older than me. The Intelligence Sector—the Turks—never really met nor talked with any of the members of the other sections, unless we were assigned on a mission together."

Vincent reached inside his cape and pulled out a slightly wrinkled sheet of paper that he extended towards Cloud. Cloud leaned forward and recognized Dusk's wanted flyer, his eyes moving immediately to the picture centered on the paper.

"This wasn't our first mission as Turks, but it was the first time we had been assigned to work with the science section. We were told to go to the Icicle area and guard the scientists, and that was all. As Turks, we only needed to know the essentials of the reasons for the trip. We were going up there to investigate the entire area in general, and to find out why it was continuously cold. It was a matter that was not of interest among us four Turks that were assigned there, although we did wonder why they wanted so many Turks to guard just two scientists. 

"That was when I first met Hojo and Lucrecia. They were the two scientists who were investigating this matter, and I learned soon enough that they often worked together. At that time…I don't think I really knew Lucrecia enough. I kept my distance from the scientists and guarded the house that they worked in, along with Aya and the other two. Lucrecia took this picture, among others, to send back with the portfolio to Shinra. She made sure to take at least one centered shot of each person assigned to the mission, and then sent it back by a chocobo messenger who was passing through Icicle Inn."

"So that's where that picture came from," Cloud remarked offhandedly. "But how did Aya change into Dusk? I mean, Aya looked really…happy back then. Now, she's just the most serious person I've ever met, besides you."

Vincent quietly ignored the jab at his personality and chose to answer Cloud's question instead. "The day before we were to leave and return to Midgar, Icicle Inn was attacked by a two-headed monster that had supposedly emerged from the depths of Gaea's Cliffs. We were caught unaware—the biggest shame of the Turks. Aya and I only survived the first blow because we were protecting the two scientists and leading them away from the fight, warning as many townspeople as we could. When we returned, both of the other Turks were dead." His voice hesitated slightly as he bent his head forward, memories that had long been shut away in the back of his mind returning with a vengeance.

***

_The creature roared triumphantly just as Aya and Vincent skidded to a halt in a flurry of kicked up snow that briefly obscured their line of vision. When it had cleared, the first thing they saw were the two lizard-like heads looming above them, balancing upon slender necks that joined at the base and ended in one shared shuddering mass of a scaled body. The next thing was Alan, the eldest—and the first—of the Turks, his brown head slanted crookedly to the side and his hazel eyes glazed over in death. He lay on the snow-covered ground that was stained scarlet with his own blood, a deep red rose blossoming over his heart and spreading slowly through the vest of his navy blue jacket. Alan's mouth was open in a soundless and forever frozen look of astonishment, as if he had just seen Death in the face but hadn't comprehended the true meaning of the apparition until it was too late._

_ _

_Aya took a step forward but leaped backwards into Vincent almost immediately after, eyes moving swiftly to the ground and the object she had just stepped on. It was the already broken leg of the youngest and newly recruited Turk, Jonathon. Blood was flowing forth from the broken leg anew, caused by the re-breaking of Jonathon's leg, a result of the hard heel of Aya's boot. He was more of a broken rag doll than Alan, with his limbs askew in what would have been an extremely uncomfortable position for any living human. His face was ashy gray, but his eyes and mouth were closed, unlike Alan's. Blood ran in a shocking trickle from the corner of his closed lips, dripping unheeded into a tiny puddle by the side of his face._

_ _

_"Jon…" Aya let out a tiny whimper of sorrow at her discovery. Vincent put a blind hand on her shoulder, giving as much comfort as he could at such a critical time. Because he was the newest and the youngest, Jonathon had been taken under Aya's sisterly wing, allowing her to "show him the ropes" of the life of a Turk. He had adored her as a little brother worshipped a dependable older sister, trusting her entirely on everything in this, his first mission. Vincent could grudgingly admit that he had been getting a little unsettled by the fawning looks Aya and Jon exchanged between themselves more than once, and perhaps also at the fact that Aya had practically shoved another member of her and Vincent's close-knit family under his nose. But despite all of that, Jon still had become a member of the "family" of outsiders, the duo expanding into a trio and two of the three members on the lookout for more lonely additions to their group._

_ _

_So Vincent could understand why she felt so much grief at the boy's death._

_ _

_Vincent let Aya grieve for one more moment before he returned his complete attention to the two-headed lizard that they faced. Or rather, the tail of the monster that they currently were looking at. The animal had turned itself around while Aya and Vincent had been distracted by the bodies of their allies and was busying itself with the destruction of an abandoned factory-type house. It ripped into the building with a mindless glee that was expressed by both heads._

_ _

_"Let's go, Aya," Vincent finally growled. "We can't just let this thing remain here, or it'll destroy everything."_

_ _

_Aya slowly raised her head and nodded, reaching for the long sword she carried over her back. "And afterwards, let's bury Alan and Jon."_

_ _

_Vincent nodded in agreement, checking the ammunition in one gun and fingering the other that he kept in a holster for emergencies. "I'll go for the heads while they're distracted, and you try to come around and finish it, okay?"_

_ _

_"I'll do that," Aya replied instantly. "You back me up. I'm going to have to get pretty close to do any major damage, anyway."_

_ _

_Vincent hesitated. "You know that I'm not the best shot with these, Aya. You might get hit by accident."_

_ _

_"I'll take the risk." Aya shrugged before she sent Vincent one last grin. "Besides, you would never shoot your little sister, would you?" _

_ _

_"Little sister, indeed," Vincent snorted. "I'm going behind the trees. Give me the signal when you're going to go for it." He slipped away before hearing Aya's assent, picking a fairly well hidden place in the treetops that would let him see enough to aim accurately. No sooner had he swung to his hiding place than he heard Aya's signal that came in the form of a sharp, trilling whistle anyone could mistake for a birdcall, especially in the forest that he was in right now._

_ _

_Anyone except for him, that is. Vincent had his gun at the ready and cocked, squinting downwards and aligning the closer of the two heads with the point of his gun. Aya came hurtling into view, moving with the speed that her slender body provided her with and making the longest leap Vincent had ever seen her take to bring her first blow to the lizard's chest. The blade bit into the scales, but bounced away in a shower of sparks that made both heads snort in surprise. Aya backpedaled a short distance, eyebrows raising in surprise before she threw herself back at the monster, this time scooting around to the rear._

_ _

_She won't be able to make a good blow unless she hacks away continuously at one spot, __Vincent realized. Her arms aren't strong enough. Even then, her blade would probably break before she'd make a decent wound—it's too thin. By that time, this monster thing would probably be picking her from its teeth. I have to back her up good enough…_

_Taking careful aim through his peephole in the foliage, Vincent let his first shot go off at the head he had been pointing towards. The head turned at the same time he let off his shot, causing the bullet to miss the soft cheek area and instead bounce off of the well-protected forehead, ricocheting into some unknown destination away from the monster. The head blinked and shook its head stupidly for a brief moment before its red eyes narrowed in anger._

_ _

_What the…oh, crap. __Vincent barely had the thought out of his head before he gathered his legs beneath him on his unsteady tree branch perch and propelled himself away from the place, going back into the open but not caring in the least. The tree he had been hiding in was covered in an encasing of white mist that had issued forth from the head's gaping mouth. When the mist had dissipated, all that was left behind was the tree clearly frozen in a huge chunk of ice. Vincent shuddered at the thought of himself trapped in there as well before he came out of his roll and crouched back on his feet, bringing his eyes up to check his position._

_ _

_A thick string of dark olive green uncoiled itself and slammed itself into his chest, flinging him backwards to crash into the trunk of a tree. Vincent's head spun with the contact of both tail and tree, his hand loosing the gun he had been using before to let it fall with his body to the ground. He blinked dazedly just in time to see the monster's tail bringing itself around to swing at him again, both of the heads glaring over their respective shoulders at him. He ducked, covering the back of his head as the tree he had been resting against exploded into splinters with the contact of the tail, wincing as sharp bits of wood bit into his unprotected hands and lodged themselves into the back of his jacket. Immediately, he rolled behind a bush before the tail could come at him again, almost curling around himself in pain as his ribs reminded him that they, too, had just been hit with the same force that had decimated a tree._

_ _

_I might want to lay low for a while, __he thought. But…where's Aya?__ _

_ _

_Aya screamed in reply to his thoughts, making him bring his head up sharply to peer once more through the bush despite the complaints of his ribs. The head Vincent had shot at earlier had the girl dangling from its mouth by a leg that was clearly broken and was swinging her around like how a dog worries away at a bone. The other head was snapping impatiently at Aya each time she swung towards it, sometimes coming away with parts of her clothing missing but luckily nothing else. At that rate, though, soon it wouldn't be just her loose bits of clothing that would be ending up in the other head's hungry mouth. _

_ _

_Vincent shot out of hiding before he could think, grabbing his spare gun and letting all of the shots in that round out without hesitating. One lodged itself in the cheek that he had been aiming for earlier, another clipped the ear of the second head, and the rest either ended up in the monster's two necks or disappeared into the air. He dropped the empty gun and ran straight towards the monster, moving as quickly as his legs would take him._

_ _

_As expected, the head that had been shot in the cheek let out a rough scream of outraged pain, throwing its head back to the sky and dropping Aya in the process. She fell like a limp piece of discarded garbage, Vincent barely managing to catch her before she hit the ground—a blow that would have surely finished her, if the beating she had received before hadn't. He stumbled in his steps but doggedly continued forward, clutching Aya to him as he practically flew into the depths of a vacated home. _

_ _

_Vincent set Aya down onto an empty couch as gently as he could, carefully arranging her in a position that would provide her with comfort and the reassurance that she would not fall off of. She sobbed in the back of her throat and opened her dark brown eyes, lifting them towards him with a painful effort._

_ _

_"Vincent…" she croaked._

_ _

_"Hold still, Aya," he whispered softly. "It's not over yet. Are you comfortable enough?"_

_ _

_"I can't…" Aya winced as she tried to move the leg the monster had been biting through. "I can't…I can't move…" _

_ _

_Worried, Vincent felt her pulse and grew even more alarmed at the way it fluttered like terrified butterfly wings beneath his fingers. "Is your heartbeat supposed to be that fast? I…I'm not good at things like this…"_

_ _

_"Hurry, Vincent," Aya mumbled as her eyes began to slide shut again. "You have to…get rid of…that monster…"_

_ _

_"All right, Aya. You just rest, okay?" Vincent remained for as long as he dared, just long enough to watch her slip into a deep slumber. As soon as she did, he grabbed up a nearby blanket and wrapped it as tightly as he could hope to without causing any more damage around her broken leg, making one last attempt to staunch the blood that seeped from the slices on the limb. Then he rose and walked calmly out of the house, shutting the door behind him._

_ _

_The monster's head that had been shot in the cheek was busily pawing at the wound angrily while the other head looked on anxiously, making encouraging chirps under its breath while ignoring its slightly bleeding ear. Taking the advantage, Vincent glanced around quickly to find any weapons of any sort._

_ _

_His eyes fell immediately upon a silver object sticking out of the snow nearby the lizard creature's tail. He focused in on it, recognizing it as Aya's sword. It was the only suitable weapon that he could find. _

_ _

_Vincent shot forward again and had his hands wrapped around the hilt of the long sword in a second, tightening his grip involuntarily as the head with the bloody ear whipped around on its neck and glared at him. He yanked the sword out of the ground and brought it around in a clumsy arc, swinging it down with all of his strength onto the thick tail in front of him. _

_ _

_The limb was severed with that one blow, the sword slicing through both sides of the tail but snapping in half as soon as it had done its job. Vincent still clung to the half-broken blade's hilt and jumped out of the way as both heads roared once more in a mixture of pain and astonishment. The head that had been glaring at him earlier opened its mouth and spat fire at the place where Vincent had been standing, instead burning its severed tail to a pile of ash and cauterizing the stump where Vincent had made his blow. Vincent wrinkled his nose at the pungent odor of live flesh burning with sizzling crackles while the two-headed lizard, seemingly short in the brain department, did a dance of agony in reaction to its burned wound. He glanced down at the stump and saw to his disappointment that the wound had been sealed completely shut by the scales melting around it, leaving no opening for the lizard to slowly bleed to death._

_ _

_He rushed forward again, eyes narrowing as he focused on his one target while the lizard slowly brought its heads around to try and catch the lanky animal that menaced it constantly. Vincent used the jagged ends of the sword to stab the belly of the creature, leaving the remains of the blade stuck to the hilt in the scaled body. He vaulted over the back of the lizard without bothering to try and grab the blade again and began to run away from the writhing mass of the monster._

_ _

_It shrieked and swung a paw full of claws at him, knocking him away once more, but this time he mercifully didn't land against a tree trunk. Vincent still hit the ground hard enough to cause him to cry out as pain ran anew through his chest, closing his eyes tightly against the snow that flew up in a small blizzard around him. _

_ _

_He heard the lizard-thing behind him inhale, one of the heads preparing to let its power loose upon him and finish him once and for all. He threw his hands outward, scrabbling for a tree branch, a handhold, a rock—anything. _

_ _

_Vincent's hands closed around a familiar grip that came readily to him. He sat up and pointed the gun he had started off with at the gaping mouth in front of him, too terrified to do anything other than shoot. The bullet flew straight down the gullet of the head and its eyes, amusingly enough, went cross-eyed from the shock. Vincent wasted no time as he spun to his feet and took aim once more, this time shooting directly through the gelatinous eye of the head he had just shot. It let out a wheezing cry of despair before it fell over, leaving just the other head behind. The remaining head looked in shock at its brother—sister?—before it began trying to clamber away, dragging its dead twin head beside it._

_ _

_Vincent took grim aim again and shot the fleeing head straight and true through its eye, the bullet traveling the same path as its mate and piercing through the brain of the monster. This time, it fell without a single cry, first the head and then the body landing with twin ground-shaking thuds that were slightly muffled by the trampled blanket of snow beneath its form. The body's sides expanded in one last shuddering breath before contracting and becoming still without a single bit of evidence of life ever residing there._

_ _

_Dropping his gun in exhaustion, Vincent collapsed to his hands and knees and was contemplating on following the two-headed lizard's example before he remembered Aya. He drew himself painfully to his feet and rushed back into the house he had left her in, ignoring the pale faces of the townspeople and the two scientists who had all begun to return once they had felt the tremors of the fall of the monster._

_ _

_Vincent found Aya in the same position as he had left her, her eyes closed and her chest rising and falling with agonizing deliberation. He knelt beside her, feeling her pulse once more and despairing when he discovered that the fluttering wings of the butterfly had not slowed down any more than the rate it had been at before. _

_ _

_"Is she still alive?" a woman's gentle, soft voice asked behind him. Vincent whirled around on his knees to find both of the scientists standing in the doorway of the house. The woman wore a look of clear gratitude mixed plainly with concern on her face, while the man kept his own face a mask of cool indifference._

_ _

_"Barely," Vincent replied, turning back towards the young woman he considered his only family. She let out a weak cough and opened her eyes again to meet his. "Aya…hang on." _

_ _

_"Vin…cent…" she breathed, the pain that occurred when she spoke written in ever line of her face. "I…don't know…if I can…go back…"_

_ _

_"Shh," Vincent whispered comfortingly while his own heart cried out in horror at her weakness. "You're going to be fine, Aya. Don't worry."_

_ _

_"No, she won't," the male scientist announced matter-of-factly as he stepped up beside Vincent, examining Aya with a critical eye. "At best, she has two more hours. Even without that broken leg, she's lost enough blood so that—"_

_ _

_"Shut up!" Vincent growled from between his clenched teeth. "Just shut up, okay? Do you think that I don't know that?!"_

_ _

_"Then why try to hide the inevitable?" the man returned calmly._

_ _

_"Hojo, stop," the woman pleaded as she moved towards her fellow scientist. "Can't you see that the poor girl's suffering enough already? And stop talking about her as if she isn't here. Can't you do anything about her?"_

_ _

_"I'm a scientist, Lucrecia, not a doctor," Hojo snapped. "There's nothing that I can do."_

_ _

_"Surely you can," Lucrecia whispered sadly. "There must be some way to save her at least."_

_ _

_Hojo began to say something before he snapped his mouth shut and closed his eyes, thinking. Abruptly, he opened them and grinned, an action that should have put Vincent at ease but instead made his hair stand on end._

_ _

_"I have a possible solution to the problem," Hojo announced, fidgeting in his obvious excitement. "Carry the girl and follow me, Turk." _

_ _

_Biting back a cutting remark, Vincent lifted Aya into his arms as gently as he could. She tilted her head to rest against his shoulder, closing her eyes as if she fought against an unseen enemy inside of her mind. He walked after the scientist as smoothly as he could, putting all of his concentration into carrying Aya while Lucrecia brought up the rear._

_ _

_Hojo stopped at the building in the far back of the Icicle Inn town where the two scientists had been working diligently at day in and out. He turned around at the door, glancing towards Lucrecia._

_ _

_"Stay here, please," he requested mildly, "and watch the door for me."_

_ _

_Lucrecia nodded and waited for Vincent to enter before she closed the door behind him and took up guard. Vincent followed Hojo once more, glancing sideways occasionally as they took a winding path through darkened rooms full of jars of glowing green liquid that occasionally held strange bits and pieces of what apparently had once belonged to a living thing. He shuddered within his mind at the sight of a floating human hand and kept his eyes fixed on the white-clad back of the man in front of him._

_ _

_Hojo stopped at the door of the room in the farthest part of the house. He reached deep within his lab coat's pocket and pulled out a key that he inserted into the knob of the door, turning it with a click and opening the now unlocked door while placing the key back into his pocket. He motioned for Vincent to enter, closing the door behind him once he was inside._

_ _

_Vincent stared at the place that was too big for a closet, but too small for a complete room. Foremost in a corner was a long, cylindrical glass tank lying on its side that was filled with the same green liquid he had seen throughout the house. In a different corner were piles of paperwork stacked on top of more paperwork with a gleaming long sword of a type Vincent had never seen before leaning against a stack. Various papers were pinned up on the walls, pictures of various people he didn't recognize mixed with lines of notes placed their apparently for immediate reference. The room in its whole entirety was a dark place that was only lit by the eerie light of the tank of liquid. He frowned pensively as Hojo moved forward and opened an almost invisible door in the side of the tank that faced upwards, nodding towards Vincent._

_ _

_"Put her in here," he instructed._

_ _

_"Why?" Vincent asked suspiciously as he felt Aya shiver in fear or simply from the chill that was in this room. "What is this, anyway?"_

_ _

_Hojo regarded Vincent with a bored, slightly supercilious look. "The concept may be difficult for one such as yourself to understand, but I will make my best effort to explain it to you as lucidly as possible. This tank contains fluids directly from the Lifestream. Do not ask me how or when I got it, but it proves to be very useful in my research. Now, what it also does is support life within it. The girl, if put inside of here, will be able to survive and heal properly by herself and with the aid of the Lifestream fluid."_

_ _

_"How long will it take?"_

_ _

_Hojo shrugged. "That's a price to the deal. I don't know. This is relatively new, and I've never tested it before on a full living human. I am rather eager to discover the results, however."_

_ _

_Vincent was silent as he cradled Aya to him. Finally, he said, "I can't decide for her. This is Aya's life…and I can't do anything about it."_

_ _

_Hojo leaned towards the girl, peering over the frames of his glasses. "Well?"_

_ _

_Aya drew one long, shuddering breath and glanced up at Vincent with eyes that, for the first time since Vincent could remember in a while, were filled with fear. "Vincent?"_

_ _

_Vincent recognized her fear for what it represented, realization dawning in his mind as he nodded to her. She's afraid of being alone. When her parents died…and when my parents died…we were both alone, save for each other…_

_"Don't worry," he whispered gently. "I'll be waiting for you, right here, when you wake up."_

_ _

_"Promise…?"_

_ _

_"I promise."_

_ _

_Aya shifted her head so that she could meet Hojo's dull yellow eyes. "I'll do it."_

_ _

_Hojo smiled again. "Wise decision." He reached out and picked up a slender injecting needle that was filled with a bloody red liquid that glowed just as readily as the Lifestream inside of the tank. "This injection will help you adjust to the new environment more readily and ensure quicker recovery." With one deft movement, he reached out, took a secure grasp on Aya's arm, and released the contents of the needle into a vein. _

_ _

_Aya blanched when the fluids entered her body, biting her lip. "I feel funny."_

_ _

_"Side affects of the injection," Hojo explained. "Oh, and be warned that you might be a little…different when you wake up. They're just slight physical and possibly mental changes due to the combination of the injection and the Lifestream treatment. None of them are anything serious to be truly worried about. Are you ready?"_

_ _

_Aya nodded and looked back up at Vincent. "I'll see you soon, I hope."_

_ _

_Vincent moved over to the tank and slowly lowered Aya's body into the glowing Lifestream, watching as she half-lidded her eyes and inhaled her last breath of air. He released her before she was totally submerged and stepped away, seeing her eyes move underneath her half-closed lids and travel in his direction._

_ _

_"I promise," he whispered again, more for his own reassurance than Aya's before she shut her eyes completely and disappeared beneath the shifting green surface. _

_ _

***

"But I never came back and was forbidden to," Vincent finished, resettling his cape around him. "When we left, Hojo safeguarded the room so that no one could enter and told me that he would return regularly and update me on Aya's recovery. In all the years that followed, he only went back to Icicle Inn twice and never once allowed me to go. Every time he came back, he seemed more pleased and excited than ever before but simply told me that Aya was still recovering and hadn't awakened yet. Then I was assigned on the Nibelheim mission with Lucrecia and Hojo, and then…" His eyes narrowed from beneath the midnight bangs of his hair. "You know the rest."

Cid whistled quietly from between his teeth. "I was right. That girl has been through a lot."

"Then she's really…_how old?" Cloud scratched his head._

"Physically, twenty-three," Vincent replied. "She was just on the verge of turning twenty-four, as I was nearing my twenty-third birthday as well. The injection that Hojo gave her was really the Jenova cells that he later tested on me, and finally himself much later. It also stopped her aging, so she and I are, in essence, immortal. Chronologically, Aya—or Dusk, if you will—is almost fifty-nine years old. I was taken for the experimentation less than five years later and, as a result, continued aging physically until that time. It was when I had just reached my twenty-seventh year that I was assigned to Nibelheim, and Hojo took me as his second guinea pig." He seemed to retreat into the corner he leaned on, wrapping the folds of his cape more firmly about his shoulders. "Now I would suggest getting some sleep. There is no way of telling when we will get out of here, or what happens next."

Cloud watched as Vincent firmly closed his eyes and Cid leaned back on his cot. He decided to remain where he was against the door so that he would be able to warn the others when someone was approaching and shut his eyes as well.

Vincent, although his eyes were closed, feigned his sleep. He still could not recall his past before joining the Turks, but what he could remember provided enough pain for him. 

_The pain can either make me stronger or reduce me to nothing, he thought. __What is my choice?_

_ _

_For the first time in many years, Vincent's dreamless slumbers were filled with images that came to him with stark clarity and left wounds long healed over open and bleeding once more._


	22. Rebirth and Return

Chapter Twenty-Two

Rebirth and Return

            Dusk watched impassively as Rei scooted around the impeccably neat lab, tweaking the several different instruments that lay on gleaming tables. The guard that held her in his firm grasp watched as well, but with a glint of insatiable human curiosity. Finally, Rei opened a one of the many file cabinets that graced the area and pulled out a folder that was about half an inch thick. 

            "Now, let's see here!" he announced, whistling under his breath as he opened the file on his desk and pawed through the various papers the folder held. "This file is entirely dedicated to you, my dear Dusk," Rei added out loud as he continued his search. "Don't you feel special? You're so important to me that I keep a documentation of every single step you took since you were born."

            "Oh my, yes," Dusk replied, letting the sarcasm drip unheeded from her tongue. "Excuse me if I don't leap up and down with joy, but I'm a little tied up at the moment."

            Rei paused in his search and glanced up at her, his narrow glasses shining in the lights that shone overhead. "A sense of humor as well. Will the wonders never cease?"

            "Oh, I'm full of surprises," Dusk shot back. "You haven't seen anything yet."

            Rei clucked his tongue at her. "Don't make promises you can't keep, my dear. Ah, here we go. My ambitious predecessor in the science department kept very accurate notes of your development after undergoing the treatment he gave you. He says here that you responded fairly well to it and healed much quicker than he expected, probably due to the injection. He was going to go visit you a third time, but something unexpected came up and, over the course of the years, your existence was pushed into the back of his mind. And then he died." 

            "Too bad," Dusk muttered. "I would have loved to strangle him with my bare hands."

            "So would have half of the Shinra company, I believe." Rei motioned for the guard to bring Dusk closer, stepping forward himself to meet them. "I have a little present for you that unfortunately might not sit well with your pretty head," he said with a twisted smile. "But I insist that you accept it. Ready to see what it is?"

            "I'm dying from anticipation."

            "That's the spirit." Rei walked over to a large, covered object that reached up to his waist and was longer than his height. With a dramatic flourish of one hand, he reached out and pulled the sheet off of his "surprise." Instantly, the room was filled with an eerie green light that struck an all-too-familiar note in Dusk's mind.

             The revealed object was a long, cylindrical glass tank that lay on its side. It was filled with a liquid that was forever shifting in shades of green, from emerald to the light-pierced color of the surface of an ocean. The glow that it gave off intensified the mysterious beauty of the liquid and colored surrounding objects a quiescent tone of green.

            _Lifestream…_

_            "I see that you recognize it," Rei chuckled, watching as Dusk's crimson eyes widened in some unidentifiable mix of emotions. "It took me a lot to recover this precious thing from Icicle Inn. We got there right after you had left, as was evidenced by the broken door. Luckily, we were able to repair the broken bits of the glass and ship the entire thing back here."_

            "Good for you," Dusk mumbled, her voice strained and low-pitched. 

            "Yes, I know," Rei replied, almost preening in his self-satisfaction. "Well, anyway, back in you go. Brian?"

            The guard who had been holding her moved forward, propelling her towards the tank that was the very thing she had slept in for more than thirty years. Dusk unconsciously tried to dig her heels into the slippery tiled floor, and when that didn't work, struggled against the muscled arms of her captor. 

            "Don't try it, Dusk," Rei said, noticing her endeavors. "You're not going to escape this time, and you're much too important a specimen to let me allow you to get away."

            Dusk's mind was instantly filled with all of the nightmares and dreams that had plagued her sleep ever since she had entered that pod so long ago. The shrill cries of agony whose owner she couldn't identify still haunted her and chilled her to the bones with the thought of it. Then the nightmares of never waking up came, and others of waking and finding everyone she knew gone. The latter nightmare had partly come true, for the only person she knew who still lived was Vincent.

            _And even he will be taken away from me if I go back…_

_            That mere taste of her nightmare recurring—the vision that ghosted about her mind and filled her heart with the cold sense of being alone once more—gave Dusk more strength than she could normally credit herself for. She twisted violently in the guard's—Brian's—grasp, elbowing him in the ribs with both arms so that he gave a gasp of surprise as his breath was knocked from him. With a duck of her upper body, Dusk had the man flipped over her head and pinned down on his back on the floor. Before he could react, she jabbed at all three of his pressure points—groin, solar plexus, and throat—in rapid succession. As he wavered between unconsciousness and wakefulness, she released her grip on his arms and brought both of her fists down on either side of his temples, shattering the weak bone there and cutting off the circulation to his brain._

            Dusk rose from her crouch while Brian choked his last on the floor between herself and Rei, lowering her bloody-eyed gaze onto the scientist whose eyes registered a slight sense of surprise. Keeping her eyes locked on Rei's face, she advanced like a cat stalking a mouse, stepping on and over Brian's body without any regard and padding silently on. Rei held perfectly still, save for the one motion he made of slipping a hand into one of his lab coat's pockets—a movement that went past Dusk's eyes without notice, all of her attention focused primarily on only Rei's flickering amethyst eyes.

            "No one," she growled as she converged upon Rei, "is going to take my life away from me again. I walked that path once a long time ago, and that path was my mistake. I will never return on that path willingly." Dusk slowly raised her arms into a fighting pose, watching with silent glee as Rei froze.

            "You know that you're not going to get away with this," Rei said, still keeping his cocky, taunting tone of voice. 

            "Oh, really?" Dusk smiled bitterly. "I can still try." She lunged barely after her statement was finished, swinging her fist around towards Rei's head, her mind clouded with anger, resentment, and the promise of revenge.

            Rei ducked, parried her arm with one arm, whipped his other hand out of his pocket, and lunged beneath her, bringing his clenched hand up into Dusk's stomach. 

            Dusk saw how easily she had been defeated and cursed herself for her blinded mind. The next instant, her world was filled with a stabbing pain that spread from her stomach and outwards to her limbs, numbing them beyond movement. She sagged forward, losing all control of her body and unable to do anything but watch as the tiled floor of the laboratory came up to meet her.

            Rei caught her at the last instant, the needle he had punched her with still held tightly in one hand. Dusk's head fell at an angle such that she could clearly see the needle in front of her nose, a single, tenacious droplet still clinging to the needle's slender point. One droplet that glowed with a familiar, ocean-blue shine that remained before letting go of its hold and falling to the unforgiving floor below.

            "How…?" she whispered, desperately working her paralyzing throat in an attempt to speak.

            Rei smiled. "When I revisited Icicle Inn, I found vials of this still in that room where your tank was. The Jenova cells are dead, but they left a residue behind that only affects those carrying Jenova cells inside of them already. The results are what you are feeling right now." He gathered Dusk into both arms, letting the needle follow the droplet to the ground and moving towards the tank whose door was waiting, gaping wide open like a hungry mouth.

            Dusk feebly tried to fight with Rei as she watched her former prison approach, but the injection had spread too quickly and inhibited every muscle of her body. Rei carefully lifted Dusk over the lip of the door and lowered her into the waiting liquid, grinning when her eyes changed into panicked tones as her back met with the tepid Lifestream waters. 

            "Goodbye, Aya." Rei released Dusk completely and watched as her eyes closed involuntarily before the Lifestream completely encompassed her form. She sank midway into the tank before stopping and hung, suspended like a puppet with invisible strings, hair flowing about her elegant face in an unseen current. Rei smiled again as her chest stopped moving, touching the side of the glass tank with one finger before turning and picking up the discarded needle.

            He tossed it into a nearby trashcan and moved back to his desk where Dusk's portfolio lay, the notes within scattered across each other with pictures liberally strewn between sheets. He sat down and laughed quietly to himself, ignoring the body inside of the Lifestream-filled tank and the corpse sprawled across the floor, reveling in the accomplishment he had waited years to achieve.

*                       *                       *

            Reeve sighed as he stared down at a picture taken a long time ago, resting between his elbows on the wide desk in front of him. A young Soldier from the Shinra reign stood next to two other Soldiers, head turned towards the camera in a gesture that said that the picture taken had been unexpected to him. In fact, he had been caught in the picture by pure chance, for the focus of the snapshot was the pair of other Soldiers who both stood facing the camera. The taller one had a serious, slight frown on his slender face while the shorter man wore a huge, carefree come-what-will grin. His hair would have simply been an unremarkable black if it weren't for the amazing spikes the hair made up that jutted out and down all over his head. The eyes of the Soldier bordered between purple and blue and sparkled with their own inner light.

            The Soldier beside him had a tall, lanky form that he half-hid with a black trench coat he kept tied at the waist and open at the chest and legs and a pair of broad, slightly rusted silver shoulder guards. His skin was so pale it looked as if it should belong to a dead corpse. The hair that cascaded over his back and hung in bangs in front of his eyes, although a startling molten silver shade, did nothing to compliment his morbid complexion. It was his eyes that held and kept a person's attention—eyes that, even within the stillness of the photograph, retained their piercing bird-of-prey gaze. They were a brilliant emerald green that, unlike the previous Soldier's eyes, glowed of no will of his own. He had the bearing of someone who was destined for greatness someday—but that greatness had led to his later downfall, as Reeve knew only too well.

            It was the Soldier who had been caught in the picture by accident that was the pure focus of Reeve's attention. He was young, even younger than the shorter Soldier of the pair in the foreground, barely reaching what most considered manhood in Reeve's judgement. His face was slightly flushed and held the slightest hints of the proud, arrogant appearing man he would grow into someday. The boy's slightly sun-bleached blonde hair was barely as spiked at the top as the black-haired man's was and was drawn back into a small ponytail. His eyes were a more definite shade of dark blue and were the only part that he kept throughout his growth into adulthood. They were as stunning a dark blue as the very heart of a sapphire ocean and held an innocent air of childlike naivete within them, but could still hold observers within them almost as well as the silver-haired Soldier's eyes could.

            _Cloud certainly doesn't look as confident then as he does now, Reeve thought as he shifted his elbows on his desk. __I'll bet he was so shy back then that he couldn't even speak to his best friends without stammering._

_            From what Reeve knew of Cloud's childhood, Cloud-the-boy had been alone and basically an outcast. He dreamed of one day becoming like the platinum-haired man in the picture—__Sephiroth—surely just as how the dark-haired young man did at one point. _

            _Probably just as how most of us as little kids did._

_            Reeve had been one of those children, too, except he had been one of those dreamers when he was in his mid-twenties and already well under way as a member of the Shinra workforce. Sephiroth had emerged from seemingly nowhere, rising from the ranks of a low guard member to the famous—or infamous—leader of the Shinra Soldiers and top ranker of the First Class Soldiers. His fearless exploits made him the hero children looked up to or longed to become someday, and in the back of his mind, Reeve, too, had wished to fight just as courageously and flawlessly as Sephiroth did._

            He had grown out of it, perhaps when he had finally met Sephiroth face-to-face. His errand for the then-leader of his department had taken him into the Soldier training level, where he had been explicitly been ordered to wait for someone to approach him. Reeve had not been warned beforehand as to who that person would be, so when he finally met the person he was supposed to wait for, it took everything to keep him from fainting dead away.

            He remembered Sephiroth as if that day he had first seen him personally was yesterday. At first, awe was all that Reeve could feel for the man that was quite his junior—probably just barely out of his teens. Yet, he still was forced to tilt his head backward to meet the legend's gaze—and it was that gaze that chilled his heart to the bone.

            Reeve often had wondered, just as often as he had dreamed of being like Sephiroth, how that Soldier was able to kill as many men as he was acclaimed to have done and live with himself. With one look into Sephiroth's eyes, Reeve realized that those acts were simple for the man—because there was absolutely no emotion, no pain, no humor or resignation or anything of the sort in those light devouring green eyes. His face was a simple mask of impassiveness, the exact same face that stared at Reeve out of the photo in front of him. When he spoke, his voice was calm but harsh in quality and, although smooth in tone, grated against Reeve's raw nerves.

            Reeve had taken Sephiroth's reply back to his boss, shaken by his encounter and barely able to blurt his message out before he stumbled back to his assigned room. He had simply collapsed on his narrow cot, stunned and shivering from fear that he was sure Sephiroth never felt before in his life.

            That was when he knew that Sephiroth, despite all his prowess and accomplishments in battle, was no better than any other human. Others were gifted with emotions and the capabilities to feel for people, but Sephiroth, while having the awing gift of both physical and mental strength, could not or chose not to feel anything in the slightest. His flaw was his lack of emotions, and in that moment, Reeve felt pity for the younger man, for the boy would never feel what it was like to love or to grieve. 

            He returned to his path in life and cast all thoughts of becoming like Sephiroth away. To his amazement, none of the younger, newly recruited Soldiers he met ever lost their image of Sephiroth, even when they met the man under the same circumstances Reeve had. Reeve rose in his own ranks in his branch of the Shinra department and ascended to leadership the year that Sephiroth disappeared, never to return to Shinra again.

            _And here Yuffie was babbling about how Sephiroth has come back, Reeve thought disgustedly. __Even if he did, my troops are more than enough to take care of him. Sephiroth was trained under Shinra, and my Soldiers are different. They were taught to take care of situations like this, should they ever arise._

_            "There's nothing to worry about, those fools," he muttered out loud, playing with the edge of the picture and sighing._

            The hiss of steel being drawn sounded behind him.

            Reeve began to rise instantly and whirl around to see who was behind him, but the furthest he got was halfway off of his chair. Cold steel plunged directly through his heart from his back and through his chest, continuing onward into the photo on his desk. He watched in foggy comprehension as the image of Sephiroth was sliced neatly through his stomach, the edge of the blade nicking the short Soldier's arm. Blood—_my blood, he realized—dripped along the edge of the blade and fell onto Cloud's wide eyes, obscuring his face in a bright red smear. Reeve felt his mind begin to shut down as he struggled to breath, his eyesight clouding in front of him as he painfully lifted his head to call for help._

            Light devouring eyes that glowed from the light that they held within them and colored the darkest shade of emerald stared back at him. Reeve took in those eyes, the silver hair that provided a slight veil for one glowing eye, and the corpse-like pale skin that covered a proud, delicately narrow face with each last gasp for renewal of his rapidly diminishing air supply.

            The thin mouth that curved in a slight frown abruptly reversed direction, turning into a maniacal smile of glee.

            "Sephiroth…" Reeve breathed before the ghostly image that danced tauntingly before him, grinning derisively while the cold steel in his chest grew warm from his living blood, faded out of existence and fled his darkening mind. He closed his eyes and let go of his consciousness, falling into the open arms of the darkness that had birthed his life unto the Planet.


	23. Labyrinth of Blood

Chapter Twenty-Three

 Labyrinth of Blood

            Cloud barely managed to catch himself with a hand on the ground behind him when the door he had been sleeping against opened abruptly, spilling him out into the hallway. He blinked drowsily at first before his supporting hand twitched involuntarily and splashed something warm and wet onto his arm. Instantly, he was wide-awake as he sat up on his own, bringing that arm up and into the flickering light of the hallway behind him.

            Droplets of an eye-catching scarlet brilliance he recognized all to well decorated his arm and the palm of his glove. Cloud gasped inwardly in shock and whirled around, staring at the long hallway behind him and praying that what he remembered from the past wasn't true in the present.

            The floor of the hallway, a spotless metallic gray before, now bore an endless streak of the same crimson liquid Cloud rubbed away from his arm and glove onto one of the sheets of the cot he was supposed to be occupying. He leaned over and peered down the hallway that led out of the prisoner area, his eyes traveling along the morbid path of blood that was briefly interrupted by a darkened form sprawled out directly over the trail. Cloud scooted out of the cell and stumbled towards the form, reaching out with a glove that came away covered in blood once more. He gingerly turned the body over, putting the face of the man into the lighting of the hallway.

            It was the same guard that Cloud had remembered was assigned to guard them, his eyes wide open in shock and his mouth slightly parted as if he had been about to let out a scream that had been cut short. Cloud glanced downwards at the guard's torso and saw a single, familiar slash across the man's abdomen, his pallid intestines spilling out from the gash and the tilt Cloud had put the man at. Cloud grimaced, for it had been all too long since he had last seen a wound like this.

            But the last time that he had, it was one that had nearly taken Tifa's life in the Nibelheim Reactor so long ago.

            It was only by Tifa's reactions that had allowed her to barely survive the blow to her abdomen. She had tried to back away in time, but the sword had still caught her deep enough to make a wound that had been life threatening. Cloud let the man drop back to the ground, rising from his kneeling position and ignoring the blood that now stained the knees of his pants. He cautiously went ahead a few steps and poked his head around the corner, following the path of blood with his eyes. They found three more bodies slumped over in the trail of blood, two wearing the uniform of the guard and the third wearing a business suit of one of the simple workers.

            Cloud ducked back around the corner, inhaling shakily. That path of blood had continued past the bodies and past his line of current sight, extending beyond into the shadows of the floor. It was the same gruesome trail he remembered and feared, for it marked not only the deaths of hundreds of people but the return of the one person he had worked so hard to defeat.

            He closed his eyes and commanded his mind to stop racing like a trapped mouse. He quickly traced his way back to his cell, entering as quietly as he could. Vincent and Cid remained in the same positions he had left them in. He tiptoed over to Cid and shook the grizzled man's shoulder, ignoring the snort that Cid made and the quiet curse that followed.

            "What is it?" Cid yawned, glancing up at Cloud. Cloud put a finger over his lips, quieting Cid with that gesture that was followed by another directed towards the wide open cell door. He moved away from the cot as Cid sat up on his cot, wincing as it creaked in complaint to his weight shifting.

            Vincent woke without a single noise at the sound of the creak, swiftly moving to his feet the instant his eyes opened. Cloud looked up at him in surprise, but his surprise was interrupted by the faint curse that emitted from Cid's direction. Vincent and Cloud padded silently to the doorway, the former choosing not to comment on the condition of their formerly sealed cell door.

            "Holy crap," Cid repeated for the others' benefits as he stared down at the seemingly infinite trail before them. "Is that all…blood?"

            Cloud nodded. "I checked," he said, holding up one gloved hand that was still slightly stained from his previous fall into the liquid.

            "And it's still wet," Vincent commented flatly. He peered around the doorframe of the cell and glanced down the hallway. "Fairly fresh kill, I would say."

            Cid followed the man's gaze and gagged almost instantly. Cloud realized that, in his rush, he had left the dead man lying in a position that clearly revealed his innards. One hand was stretched towards the trio as if he were making a soundless plea for help.

            Just then, the door opposite of them slid open with a faint hissing noise. Aeris stood in the doorway, light green eyes wide with surprise. Her eyes settled on the threesome standing before her with a look of relief as she darted forward and flung herself at her father.

            "I heard the most awful noises while I was trying to sleep, dad," she mumbled into Vincent's shirt as he held her carefully. "They were all coming from outside, but I was too afraid to try and look. Then it got all quiet, and I tried the door, and…" Her eyes shifted to the ground, noting the wide splashes of blood that led to the corpse still lying in the hall. "Oh, my God…"

            Vincent was too late in shielding his daughter's innocent eyes from the brutally slaughtered man. Instead, he firmly placed himself between Aeris and the dead guard and glanced over his shoulder at Cloud.

            "Go see if the other two are awake," he said softly. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."

            Cloud obeyed without another thought and picked his way over to the open door opposite of the cell he had occupied. Inside, Tifa and Yuffie still slept, oblivious to the horrific scene just outside of their door. He went for Tifa first, kneeling beside her and touching her shoulder gently.

            Tifa let out a low murmur before she opened her eyes halfway, slowly focusing them on Cloud's face with a deliberate sleepiness. Once she recognized who he was, she sat straight up and had hopped off of the cot, glancing around quickly.

            "How did you get in here?" she hissed. Then her eyes traveled to the side and saw the door to her prison gaping open into the hallway, where the trail of blood could just barely be seen from where she stood. "Oh, God…that isn't…is it?" she asked, her brown eyes widening in mixed surprise and shock.

            Cloud jerked his head towards the door, indicating for her to go out as he went to Yuffie's side. He stood over her, unsure of how to wake the sleeping ninja and deciding to just nudge the side of her cot a little before he saw a dark red object gleaming from one of the pockets of her khaki shorts. He narrowed his eyes and jerked it out of her pocket with one swift movement, causing Yuffie to lose whatever sleep she had been trying to gain and jump straight out of her reclining position to land defensively on the floor beside Cloud.

            "Yuffie, how did you get this?" Cloud asked, wavering between anger and relief. The object residing in her shorts was the summoning materia Bahamut had given him before he had left, and one of the things that had been confiscated from him along with his sword. 

            "Oh. I stole that from one of the slots in your sword. Don't get mad at me!" Yuffie added quickly, raising her hands in front of her face in a defensive gesture when Cloud lowered his sapphire-eyed gaze on her.

            "Yuffie, I could just kiss you!" Cloud exclaimed instead, obviously not what Yuffie was expecting to hear. He reached out and patted the girl on the head, clutching the orb of materia in his other hand.

            "Um…explanation, please?" Yuffie asked, taken aback. 

            "Go on outside and meet the others. I'll try to explain it to you later, maybe."

            Cloud followed the ninja out of the door, almost bumping into her slight form when she stopped in her tracks to stare down at the morbid streak of blood on the floor between her and the rest of the group. She pointed a shaking finger downwards, attempting and failing miserably to get words out of her mouth.

            "W-w-what is t-t-that?" she asked finally.

            Cloud bumped Yuffie forward with a firm hand on her shoulder blades, causing her to stumble out and land, trembling, in the dead center of the blood. She skipped quickly out of the area, landing beside Tifa with a nimbleness that was fueled partly by her anxiety to get away from the blood beneath her feet. Cloud followed once more, joining the others and glancing at Tifa.

            "It's the same thing that happened when we were captured years ago," she breathed, hands clasped together and turning white at the knuckles. "Cloud…it has to be him again."

            Cloud nodded slowly. "Last time we followed the trail and found…"

            "Oh, my God." Tifa drew one of her hands to her mouth, turning just as pale as how her knuckles had previously been. "The President…Reeve…"

            "We have to find our weapons first before we go any further," Vincent interjected as Cloud and Tifa fell silent. "Do you have any idea where they might be?"

            In reply, there was the clattering noise of metal being dropped against metal just around the corner. Cloud glanced sharply towards the others before running full out towards the end of the prisoner holding area, jumping over the sprawled body of the guard and peering cautiously around the corner.

            The trail of blood was still there, and so were the bodies he had seen before. But now there was a pile of weapons—their weapons—lying just in front of him, with no sign as to how they had gotten there.

            The hairs on the back of Cloud's neck prickled as if someone was breathing down his back. He nervously ran a hand over them before stepping out into the open, leaning down and picking up his sword from the pile. The others joined him once they saw him step forward and found their weapons as well, all without a single mar or anything missing from them.

            "There's something strange going on here," Yuffie muttered as she replaced all of her shuriken about her person, strapping her throwing origami over back. "Why would our weapons be sitting out here in the open?"

            "They weren't here the first time I looked," Cloud added. He looked back at Tifa, meeting her eyes apprehensively while she returned the look with just as much fear in her doe-brown eyes. "Something in this building is still alive…and it isn't just us."

*                       *                       *

            Vincent stopped abruptly in his steps, causing a crash behind him as Aeris bumped straight into his back with Yuffie following suite. As the ninja backed away with a loud complaint that echoed throughout the silent halls of the Headquarters, Cloud stopped as well and turned back towards him, Tifa and Cid taking care to not bump into him.

            "What's wrong?" Cloud asked, slightly impatiently.

            "We have to get Aya," Vincent returned. "They probably took her to the science wing." With that, he made a quick detour and disappeared in an offshoot hallway to his left, Aeris following him with quick, hurrying steps.

            Yuffie snorted and looked at Cloud. "Orders, oh great and wise leader?"

            "Follow them," Cloud said, ignoring her prodding. He backtracked and jogged down the hallway, unconsciously reaching behind his back and loosening the draw of his sword as he moved. Tifa drew up beside him quickly, glancing over her shoulder to check Cid's slightly slower progress.

            "I don't like this," she muttered to Cloud, lowering her voice as they moved along. "The open doors…the blood…it all looks the same."

            "And if it is the same, then Reeve is dead," Cloud added quietly. "We'll go back once we get Dusk."

            Vincent knew the layout of the Shinra Headquarters—despite the wear of thirty-odd years since he had last placed a foot in it and Reeve's slight remodeling—like the back of his hand. He took detour after detour, cutting through halls and doors that no simple visitor would ever find or pluck up the courage to use. As he moved rapidly onwards, Aeris did her best to keep up with him, gulping nervously as they passed scores of dead humans—the ex-employers and employees of the Sith Company. 

            A flash of light caught the corner of Aeris' eye as she hurried onwards. She skidded to a halt immediately, turning her full focus onto the long, glass cylinder tank that extended from ceiling to floor and gave off a faint, neon purple glow. Inside was an animal—a reddish creature she had never seen before, but reminded her of the small feline that had slipped into the grotto somehow without getting wet. It was like that cat, but much bigger with a slight, darker red ruff of fur traveling from its head down its spine, ending at the base of its elegant neck. She stepped forward cautiously, backing away a step when the creature abruptly raised its head from the sleeping position it had been in before and turned its tawny-eyed gaze on her.

            _It looks so familiar…_

_            "Aeris?" Cloud and Tifa stopped behind her, frowning in concern. "We have to catch up with Vincent before we lose him. What's wrong?"_

            Aeris pointed to the animal that watched all three of them with a steady look, meeting eyes with no fear imprinted within the golden depths at all. "Look. It looks like it doesn't want to be in this thing."

            Tifa let out a short gasp once she caught the full view of the animal, examining its supple body from its long muzzle to the lashing tail with some sort of flame at the tip. "Cloud, that's…the same species as Nanaki, isn't it?"

            "Yeah, but didn't he say that he was the last of his kind?" Cloud took a cautious step forward as Yuffie and Cid joined them. He reached out and placed a hand on the smooth glass, running it over to look for weaknesses. "But if this one is like Nanaki, then it shouldn't be here at all."

            "Can you get it out somehow?" Tifa questioned, faint hope in her voice.

            "I'll try. Stand back." Cloud hefted his huge cleaver blade over his shoulder and into his hands, pointing it towards the glass cylinder. Tifa and Aeris scooted backwards while he brought the sword high over his head and, with a short cry, let the blade come slicing down onto the glass. He took it back up again and repeated the stroke about two feet to the right of the first cut and then made two horizontal cuts, each approximately four feet apart from each other, whose tips joined with the first two vertical slices. 

            He quickly backed up as the lion/wolf-like animal raised itself to its four paws and took a running start at the cut area, crashing through the slice of glass and landing with it underneath its paws. The glass shattered with the weight of the creature while it danced away from the area quickly, avoiding any cuts resulting from the broken bits of glass. Then it slowly turned to Cloud, regarding him with a clear golden stare.

            "Thank you for freeing me," it—she—said. Her voice was decidedly female and just as beautiful and warm as her slit-pupil amber eyes. She sat back on her red haunches, one visibly marred by a tattoo reading "XVII", and bowed her head to the group. "I have been held there for longer than I have liked."

            "My name is Cloud Strife," Cloud said, nodding in like to the animal. "This is Tifa Lockheart. The one who first spotted you is Aeris Valentine, and those two back there are Cid Highwind and Yuffie Kisaragi. If you saw him, the dark one who passed earlier was Vincent Valentine. I apologize for his curt behavior; he has other worries to attend to at the moment."

            "I understand. I'm surprised that Aeris even noticed me; most people usually don't. What I was called by the scientists was Red XVII, but the name that was passed down to me from my mother is Shar."

            "Where are you from, Shar?" Cloud asked curiously. "Are there any more of you?"

            Shar cocked her head to one side. "I, and the rest of my tribe, originated from the Cosmo Canyon area but eventually moved to the Corel area after some incident within Cosmo Canyon that forced our departure. Some of our members remained behind, but the rest of us went away. I…I was captured when humans came to raid our village. They killed everyone except for the most healthy and fit 'specimens', as they called us. That was about a year ago. The rest of my tribe that were brought here have died, and I am thus the last one of my kind that I know of."

            "There's one more who's alive and living in Cosmo Canyon," Tifa added, seeing the brief look of grief in Shar's eyes. "His name is Nanaki, the son of Seto."

            "The son of Seto is alive? I remember him. We were both but cubs when I left."

            "Shar, would you like to join us until we can bring you to Cosmo Canyon?" Cloud asked. "I know I'm rushing the subject a bit here, but all of us are on an urgent quest and need to meet with Vincent and the one he is retrieving."

            "I will gladly join your group," Shar replied with another brief nod of her massive head. "Shall we?"

            "He went that way, I think," Aeris said, rushing off in the direction Vincent had taken. The others followed once more, Shar bounding easily along by Aeris' side.

            Vincent tracked through one last slightly coiled hallway, forcing his muscles to relax. The science wing would be coming up soon, and tensing would only hinder his reflexes. He paused in front of the huge, metal gray door in front of him and glanced at the keypad to his right whose screen displayed the message: "Please enter your identification number and password." Without a second thought, he reached forward with his mechanical arm and savagely ripped the keypad's panel off of the wall, exposing the circuitry inside. Vincent roughly flung the panel away to let it clatter against the far wall of the hallway and reached deep within the tangles of circuits, hooking his mechanical arm's claws around as many wires as he could. With a yank that used barely as much power as his earlier dissembling of the panel itself, he pulled a good half of the wire circuits inside of the alcove out, ignoring the sparks that flew angrily at him. The door slid open reluctantly, revealing the darkened room within and allowing Vincent to finally infiltrate the secrets that lay behind it—and, perhaps, to finally keep the unfulfilled promise he had made to Dusk so long ago.


	24. From the Depths of Sorrow

Chapter Twenty-Four

From the Depths of Sorrow

            Vincent stalked three steps into the lab and the paused, slightly puzzled by the lack of light that science labs such as this one often emitted in high contents. His eyes promptly adjusted to the loss, pupils expanding to swallow as much light as they could possibly engulf. He took one cautious step forward, silently reaching to his side and fingering his recovered Death Penalty. The faint outlines of covered objects and a single desk met his eyes. They narrowed slightly at the sight of the form that lay slumped over the desk, unmoving and quite apparent in the white covering that hid its body.

            He moved to its side and lifted the form, recognizing the white color as the lab coat typically worn by scientists to prevent staining on their normal clothing. This coat, however, was unlike its brothers in that a large splash of slightly dried blood was spread across the front. Vincent reached out and felt the face of the person, exposed fingers traveling over cold skin and meeting with familiar, rectangle-framed glasses. Clouded violet eyes stared up at him from beneath the glass, still glowing faintly even within the sheathe of death. They held a slight amount of surprise that was still frozen within the amethyst irises, but the surprise was surpassed by the look of sheer glee each eye glinted with. Vincent frowned in disgust and dropped Rei back into his former position, and then froze and picked the scientist up again. The wound that had clearly ended Rei's reign as head scientist was not like the ones that had killed all of the people he had passed on his way to the lab. They had been killed by the clean blow of a sword; Rei had been destroyed by different means. 

            Vincent flipped the scientist over onto his back and squinted at the wound, cursing the inadequate light and reaching out with his mechanical arm to touch Rei's chest. His artificial arm was just as sensitive as his real arm, with the addition of razor sharp claws that provided an extra weapon while also capable of performing delicate operations. He traced the gaping, bloody opening with a claw, feeling it meet with the bone of Rei's broken ribcage and enter further to brush against his spine.

            There was no heart.

            Slightly disgusted, Vincent withdrew and wiped his claw off on the clean portion of Rei's lab coat and stepped away from the corpse, leaving it in the position he had rearranged it into. He turned as the others finally caught up with him, Aeris in the lead with a strangely familiar lion-like creature beside her. Vincent subtly blocked his daughter's view of Rei's garish wound, glancing over her head as Cloud and the rest peered around his form to catch Rei by the light of the lion creature's flame tail tip.

            "He's…dead?" Cloud asked in disbelief. "But how? That's not a sword wound…"

            "Whoever did it broke straight through Rei's ribcage and tore out his heart," Vincent explained, making the description as short as possible. "I checked. His heart is clearly gone."

            "Who's this?" Tifa had made an accidental discovery of another figure that lay sprawled on the floor by tripping over it. She knelt down beside the man and felt his neck. "He's been dead for much longer than any of the other corpses we've passed. It appears as if the sides of his skull were broken."

            "That would kill him quite readily," Cloud mused. "But it's not the same style that killed all of those other workers. Rough treatment like that would be used by someone without a weapon and very desperate or very angry—probably the same person who killed Rei."

            Yuffie slipped by Tifa and the dead guard, staring instead at a cylindrical glass tube that lay on its side and was definitely big enough to hold a human quite comfortably. A huge portion of the middle of the tube was broken into a large, rough hole with jagged spikes surrounding it. She stepped closer and then backed away once more when her boot splashed down into a liquid that was spreading quietly over the lab floor.

            "What the hell?" she demanded out loud, lifting the wet boot into the air and staring at the glowing green liquid covering that area of the lab and the sole of her boot. "Cloud, does this junk look familiar to you, or is it just me?"

            Tifa, who was closer to the ninja, lifted herself effortlessly out of her crouched position and joined the girl in staring down at the scintillating liquid. "That's the same thing that was inside of the Kajiha Sephiroth—when he…was still Zeno—first killed, isn't it?"

            Cloud covered the distance between himself and the liquid with a few long strides and knelt on the hard metal floor, cautiously dipping his gloved fingertips into the glowing liquid that shifted constantly in shades of green. "Mako…or Lifestream…"

            "Mako _is Lifestream. I thought you knew that already." The soft, firm voice that still managed to carry itself in projection sounded from behind them. It was a voice none of them had heard for at least a week, and its sudden appearance made them all whirl around from their positions to face the owner._

            Bahamut moved forward from the doorway of the lab, moving with his fluid glide until he reached Cloud. He nodded at the stunned man as he crouched next to him, focusing his sharp red eyes on the liquid splashed on the ground. "There really is no difference between what you humans call 'Mako' and what is commonly known as 'Lifestream'. When you harvest 'Mako', you are actually in reality harvesting 'Lifestream'. Lifestream contains all of the souls that have yet to be reborn and recycled onto the Planet, so when you harvest 'Mako', you are taking away the life of the Planet. That is one of the reasons why the Planet cried so back when Shinra harvested Mako en force."

            "How the hell did you get here?" Cloud asked, shutting his open mouth. "I don't recall ever using the materia."

            "No, you didn't use it directly, but indirectly you did. That Summon materia is linked very closely with me. I felt first your surprise, then Yuffie's panic, and finally your despair, which was enough to call me to you even though you didn't specifically ask for me to come. I'm close enough with it that, if I chose, I could destroy it with a single thought, thus eliminating the chance of it falling into the wrong hands." Bahamut smiled from within the depths of his hood that shadowed a good portion of his face. "Of course, I didn't expect all of you to get into the same predicament from five years ago."

            "It wasn't our choice," Cloud grumbled. "Have you had any luck at all?"

            "Not as much as you. I have picked up on some gossip of Sephiroth returning, but no signs of activity within the North Crater. I was on my way to Nibelheim when I felt you call, so I took a short detour and came."

            "Nibelheim…" Cloud shook his head slowly. "Once we get out of here, that's where we should go next. Oh…I forgot. Bahamut, this is Shar." He indicated the red animal behind him, who nodded her head graciously in Bahamut's direction. "Shar, this is Bahamut."

            Bahamut gifted Shar with a welcoming smile that, despite revealing his pointed teeth, conveyed a sense of calm and warmth. "So it would seem that Nanaki is not the last of his kind after all. That's a good thing; I was quite saddened about the downfall of the Cosmo Canyon inhabitants, but was relieved that Nanaki at least was still alive. Now that there's another, I'm sure that Nanaki would be most happy to meet you."

            Shar nodded. "That is why I am traveling with these people."

            Bahamut abruptly raised his head and glanced around, seemingly tallying up the members of the group. "What happened to Dusk?"

            "That's who we're looking for," Cloud put in. "She was supposed to be held in this lab, but when we came here, the scientist was dead and there was all of this Lifestream on the floor. We don't know where Dusk is."

            "I think I do." Bahamut leaned forward and reached out with a pointed fingertip, lightly brushing against the point of one of the broken glass edges. He brought the finger back to Cloud and showed it to him. There was a faint smear of blood on it that did not come from Bahamut. "This is Dusk's blood; I can smell it quite readily. She was contained in this tank and broke free somehow, slipping out through the break. I'm guessing that it was she who killed the scientist as well, because she left a trail of blood when she went up to him. She also left behind another trail when she left this room." Bahamut pointed to the drops of glinting crimson liquid on the ground that no one had noticed before and faint boot prints that were outlined in Lifestream liquid. The prints were smeared and dragged against each other, indicating that she had stumbled or was fatigued. 

            "Then let's go." Vincent started off in the direction the trail of blood led to, pausing when Bahamut let out a quiet breath of air. 

            "Well, this explains everything," Bahamut muttered when the others turned to him as well. He inhaled slowly, half-closing his eyes, and then his tongue flicked out of his mouth in a strangely snake-like gesture as if he were tasting the air as well as smelling it. "Yes. Sephiroth was here, too."

            Vincent looked at Bahamut suspiciously before closing his own eyes and breathing in the air with the same delicacy Bahamut had used. His nose was not as quite as sharp as Bahamut's animal-like senses, but could pick up on a very faint but familiar scent that mixed in with the smell of Lifestream and blood. He opened his eyes again, nodding slowly. "It's him."

            "So he _was here, too?" Cloud glanced at Bahamut as they both got up from their knees. "What did he come here for?"_

            "I don't know." It was the first time that Bahamut had readily admitted his lack of knowledge in any area, and it was something that surprised Cloud. "Let's catch up with Dusk, and then maybe she can tell us." He moved away from the Lifestream on the ground, following Vincent as they both took off like two dogs tracking their prey.

            The others turned away and followed as well, none of them noticing the Lifestream puddle behind them slowly rise and form into twisting strands of visible gas. The green-tinged vapors hovered over their previous resting-place for a bare instant before they rose once more and dissipated into the ceiling of the lab, leaving not a single drop of Lifestream behind.

*                       *                       *

            The droplets of blood they were following soon merged with the thick band of blood they had tracked earlier. Vincent and Bahamut glanced at each other before following the trail once more, both of them occasionally sniffing at the air and checking to see if Dusk's blood still remained with the path. It did, and continued to for the entire duration of the trip before the blood trail was abruptly cut off by a wide metal door that marked the entrance to the office of the President. On either side of the doorway slumped the two guards from before, both with huge slices from a sword on their chests with blood seeping from the twin wounds to join with the blood that continued underneath the door. 

            The others caught up with them once more, so used to the blood by this time and the constant moving that they were caught by surprise when the blood was cut off and Vincent and Bahamut both stopped. Cloud exchanged a confused look with Tifa while Vincent glanced sideways at Bahamut, both pairs of crimson eyes meeting simultaneously.

            "Her blood goes beyond the door," Bahamut said, his sharper nose able to pick up the scent even with the metal and confusing mix of different blood in the way. "How far, I can't say. And there's definitely a new blood mixing with the main group, although that could mean little to nothing."

            "Should we go?" Tifa ventured softly. "Who knows what's beyond this door?"

            "We can't go back, though, Tifa," Cloud said quietly. "Whatever's beyond this door is the extension of the path we've chosen to take. Going back would be pointless."

            Tifa nodded in agreement, but held onto Cloud's arm with a hesitant hand as Vincent ripped apart the control panel that would open the door. Cloud reached out and covered her hand with his reassuringly, turning his head and smiling at her with his ocean deep sapphire eyes.

            The large metal double door slid open, sudden light flooding the hallway. The group winced as one from the light, an unexpected occurrence that hadn't been present every other time they had entered a room.

            That was all the more reason to be more cautious.

            Bahamut and Vincent both entered first, their eyes having quickly adjusted to the burst of light. The rest of the group followed slowly, glancing from side to side and shielding their eyes from the bright lights overhead.

            They all approached the metal desk in the center back of the large room, staring at Reeve's unmistakable figure that was slumped over his desk much in the same way Rei had been before. The only difference was that there was a painfully recognizable long sword protruding from Reeve's back. It was covered from hilt to the visible length of the blade with blood—blood that still dripped, bright crimson and fresh, down the edge of the sword.

            Tifa let out a muffled cry of astonishment and grief while Cloud gently pressed her head to his shoulder, letting her let go of the tears her gentle heart had been holding back for so long. Aeris stared silently at the dead body and the trail of blood that ended at the front of the desk, as strangely emotionless and unaffected as her father. She held that pose for a few minutes before her eyes widened and her head jerked around to stare at both Bahamut and Vincent.

            "Zeno," she choked out urgently, bringing everyone's attention off of the dead President and to her. "He's here."

            Cloud felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle an instant after she got her sentence out as if the cold breath had returned again, breathing lightly and teasingly behind him and down his neck. He involuntarily tightened his hold on Tifa's shoulder as she did with his arm, both of them feeling the same tingle that ran from the base of their spine and up to the nape of their necks. 

            The sound of leather boot heels clicking almost tauntingly on the ground in front of them brought their eyes swiveling up beyond Reeve and the bloody sword that protruded from his back. From the shadows beyond Reeve's desk stepped a figure whose glowing, dark emerald green eyes preceded the actual person. He emerged from the depths of darkness, his most striking feature his hypnotic eyes that seemed to suck away at the life of every person who met them. Cloud found himself trying to twist his eyes away from the indifferent emerald gaze to search the man's features, and knew that he wasn't the only one who struggled to do so.

              Little remained of Zeno's thoughtful pensiveness, Cloud soon discovered. His eyes' piercing gaze had intensified to the point where not even Bahamut could easily look away, much less stare down this man. The dramatic color change in the eyes were also not the only difference about Zeno. His hair, while still retaining its bangs but let loose from its former tail, was practically a god-like platinum silver that gleamed like a precious metal with each movement of the strands of hair underneath the bright lights overhead. Zeno's face seemed to have hardened almost overnight into a mask of cool impassiveness, but recognizably both face and body still had their slender aristocratic looks. His skin had somehow managed to lighten noticeably, even though it had been fairly pale beforehand. What skin that could be seen from beneath the long black trench coat and above its collar was a deathly pale white—the skin color of someone who had never seen the light of day before, or the color of a long-dead corpse.

            And when Zeno had finished scanning all of them with his cold, light-devouring emerald eyes, he smiled the same mocking smile that echoed a man's face from five years ago—a face that had smiled the smile of someone who knew everything and looked disdainfully upon those before him. The tiniest twitch of the corners of his thin lips and the slight, anticipating widening of his eyes finished the memory, and struck Cloud with the same horrifying, heart-stopping nightmare he had crudely confined in the far recesses of his mind.

            "So we meet again," Zeno hissed, his light voice deceptively lulling as how a snake hypnotizes before striking. He reached sideways and grasped the hilt of the long sword in one hand, pulling it upwards. With it came Reeve's body at first, but it eventually gave way to gravity and slid off of the tip of the blade with a sickening hiss and landed limply back onto the desktop. Blood slid freely off of the naked sword tip at first, then abruptly sizzled and, with another blinding flash of light, disappeared completely from the sword. 

            "I've certainly waited long enough for you." Zeno held the blade passively at his side, watching with distinct malice as Cloud's own eyes focused on the sword and widened in surprise. 

            "That's…Masamune," Cloud whispered in disbelief. 

            _Masamune…the same damned sword that hurt so many of my friends…_

_            "Mother was holding it for me." Zeno gave the slender sword a casual spin with two fingers and smirked once more. _

            "Your 'Mother'?" Bahamut inquired in the smoothest voice Cloud had ever heard him use. "And who might your 'Mother' be, boy?"

            Zeno didn't appear to be affected in the slightest by Bahamut's remark, and instead turned his full hypnotic gaze on the old dragon. "She's waiting for you, especially, lizard," he remarked offhandedly, almost carelessly, as he slid Masamune back into its place in a belt loop at his side. "When I last spoke with her, she was envisioning all of the different ways to kill you—I believe being sliced alive into bits of sashimi was her latest invention."

            "She's not your real mother, Sephiroth." Vincent spoke with a firm authority in his voice that rang out as if he were berating a younger brother. Cloud glanced sideways at him in surprise, for out of all of the people present, Vincent was probably the last person he would have expected to speak. "Not now or ever."

            "Oh, but she is," Zeno laughed. "Deny it all you want, dark warrior, but she has supported me throughout ever day of my life, even before I awoke to her powers. She is more of a mother than anyone I've ever known."

            "She's _using you, Zeno!" Tifa cried out suddenly, anxiety and pain evident in every line of her voice and body. She took a step forward towards Zeno, half-lifting one hand as if she had an impulse to stroke his hair in the same comforting way she had done so many times when he had physically been still a child. "Can't you see that? You're nothing more than a puppet being pulled by her strings!"_

            Zeno stiffened abruptly, fixing Tifa with his icy glare that froze her in mid-step. "You are not one to talk, my beloved _Aunt." He stressed the last word out into a cruel mockery of the affection he had used to express in that one syllable. "All of you here are more of the puppets than I. Mother has…many plans for all of you, not just the old lizard there. And once I destroy that parasitic race called humans and take the knowledge of the Cetra for us, then we will rule together as the creators of a new world. Mother is more than enough to hold back the Planet, and I can shape the Planet's physical surface into any form that I desire. Then…" His voice trailed off threateningly as he turned away, beginning to walk back into the shadows from whence he had came. Suddenly, he stopped, and turned his head to one side. _

            "And, by the way," he said, his voice ringing out in the empty encasing of shadows beginning to swallow his figure. "Zeno is long dead. What stands before you now is the rebirth of the Chosen one…and my name…is Sephiroth."

            Tifa remained where she was, hand still tentatively raised away from her side and into the air, her wide doe-brown eyes staring speechlessly after the tall figure that quietly slid away from sight. As soon as he was gone, she slumped to the ground, arms barely catching herself in time but managing to plant her hands in support in the dried blood path that remained beneath her. Cloud darted to her side, kneeling beside her and helping her rise shakily to her feet.

            "Zeno…" she murmured in a barely audible whisper that Cloud only caught because of the proximity of his ear to her mouth. "Oh, Zeno…how can we save you from what you've let yourself become…?"

*                       *                       *

            Vincent refrained from the uncharacteristic "I-told-you-so" comment that hung in the back of his mind as he watched Cloud help Tifa up after her shuddering collapse from shock. Zeno—no, Sephiroth—was the same man who was supposed to have died five years ago, but…

            _…It appears as if we underestimated Jenova and the damage she could do…_

_            The sound of booted feet dragging against the floor brought Vincent's sharp ears and his head up, along with Bahamut's. They both made their best efforts to prick their respective ears forward into the direction of the noise, attempting to identify the person heading towards them before they actually met face-to-face._

            Yuffie turned her head and froze as a stumbling, blood-covered figure limped into the room from one of the side doors that led to the air deck. She reached automatically for a shuriken before she recognized the fatigued person for who it was, and forced herself to relax her tight grasp on the throwing star. "Dusk!"

            Vincent had seen Dusk far before Yuffie had and strode forward, catching the woman as she half-fell into his arms. Her right hand was clutched into a fist with a bloody, pulpy mess leaking out of either opening on each side of her white-knuckled grasp. She slowly let go of it and let it drop to the ground, revealing its identity to the rest of the people who converged on her and her rescuer.

            Yuffie felt a corner of her mouth twitch upward in disgust as she examined the short length of muscle that had clearly once been the very thing that Rei had been missing when they had found him. A section of Rei's ribcage lay among the ruins of the heart as well, and its presence had apparently been the only thing keeping Dusk from squeezing the heart into oblivion. As it was, the broken bit of bone had cracks and lines in it from the constant pressure Dusk had been applying, and from the looks of it, even the slightest bit of compression applied at this moment would have succeeded in destroying it once and for all. Yuffie did so impulsively, angrily grinding the bone into red-smeared dust underneath her thick boot heel in a brief moment of revenge that had been lusted after but snatched away once she had discovered her opponent dead.

            "Dusk, what happened?" Bahamut asked, furrowing his brow in concern as he laid a hand on Dusk's forehead. "When they got there, the scientist was dead and a tank was completely broken open. I could also smell Sephiroth in the air, but why he was there I couldn't fathom."

            Dusk coughed briefly before responding. "That…tank…was what held me prisoner," she breathed softly, as if talking hurt her throat. "It was…full of Lifestream…the same thing…that Hojo put me in before. I was sleeping inside…when it broke open…" She shook her head slowly. "I'm not sure what happened…but I fell out through a hole…sort of scratched myself along the way, but…I saw Rei. He was just sitting there, staring…and all I could think of…was to just kill him…"

            "So that must have been Sephiroth who broke the tank open," Bahamut mused to the air. "Strange that he would do it, though."

            "Who the hell cares?!" Cid demanded. "Dusk's fine, right? That's all that matters right now. I mean, at least I still have my prize pilot!" He grinned down at Dusk, who nodded weakly back up at him. Then he stopped and slowly jerked his head in the direction of Reeve's body that remained in its slumped position. "Can't say that for him, though."

            "Sephiroth, I take it…?" Dusk asked.

            "Yup. Stuck the dude right through the back and straight through." Cid nodded as he mimed such a blow in the air, aiming at his own back as he spoke. "Goddamned Masamune again. That weapon just stinks of evil."

            Dusk sighed slightly, more from exhaustion than impatience. "Captain…is a sword…really evil?"

            "What do you mean?"

            "For example…do you think that Cloud's sword…is evil?"

            "Um, no." Cid scratched the side of his head. "What are you getting at, Dusk?"

            "But you think…that Masamune…is evil?"

            "Well, yeah. Isn't it?"

            "But to Sephiroth…Cloud's sword…is the evil one."

            "Run that by me again?"

            Dusk expelled her breath once more as her eyelids began to drop downward, losing control and the battle with gravity and nature. "A weapon…is as evil…as its wielder's intentions…and as evil…as the other person…sees it to be. The weapons themselves…are not evil…it is their masters' and the masters' enemies' who make the weapon evil. There is always…going to be…a double edge to that. Sephiroth…may be evil…but the child inside of him…Zeno…is the weapon…that Jenova holds." She drew in one long, shuddering breath and then sank into the inviting dark hands that beckoned to her from beyond her eyelids, nestling into Vincent's brotherly embrace while Bahamut kept his hand on her forehead, almost as if he were trying to will more strength into her.

            "And, um…what the hell was all that about?" Cid asked.

            "I think she was trying to say that…the danger and evilness of a weapon depends on the viewpoint of the person holding it and the viewpoint of the person on the other end of the weapon," Aeris explained. "Um…she said that…to us, Cloud's sword is good because we're on his side and Masamune is evil because it is the weapon the enemy uses against us. But to Zeno—I mean, Sephiroth—his own Masamune is his friend, while Cloud's weapon…and everyone else's…is his enemy and therefore evil. It's sort of hard to imagine it, but supposing Sephiroth's reasons were thought to be right and everyone except for Cloud were on his side, whose weapon would be more evil? Cloud's, or Sephiroth's?"

            "Mine," Cloud answered cautiously. 

            Aeris nodded. "Right. And what Dusk said before she fell asleep was that because there are two perspectives to that little proverb of sorts, it's a double edged blade whose meanings only come clear to those fully on their own side with experience of that 'evil weapon' pointing at their faces. She also…picked up on something, probably from when she was wandering around looking for us. She said that Sephiroth still is Zeno deep inside of him, and that that Zeno hidden inside of Sephiroth is Jenova's weapon. The weapon itself is not at fault."

            "So from our standpoint, it would be all Jenova who's doing this?" Bahamut asked, perking in interest visibly. He lifted his clawed hand from Dusk's forehead and stood, staring down at the unconscious woman thoughtfully. "Intriguing. I've never thought of it that way before. I wonder what made Dusk think of it all of a sudden…?"


	25. Fire and Water

Chapter Twenty-Five

Fire and Water

            The group reluctantly left Midgar behind, worried at the anguish that clearly showed in the faces of the inhabitants once they had learned that their beloved President—and his hard-worked for company—had been completely destroyed. However, Yuffie's common sense came into play here, and her persuasive words of "believe me, you wouldn't want to be found here when those people come looking for the killers" finally goaded them to take the Highwind back out of Midgar as soon as possible. Indeed, it turned out to be for the best, for no sooner had the Highwind lifted off (while the crewmembers who had stayed aboard throughout the entire ordeal jabbered off questions) when a crowd of people emerged onto the air pad, eyes filled with tears of anger or grief. Cloud felt guilt of the highest depth enter his heart, and knew that he would not hope of returning to Midgar without that pang returning. Besides that, he would probably get his head ripped off in the bargain.

            "Where to, Captain?" the young crewmember filling in Dusk's pilot position asked once the Highwind was high above the city of Midgar.

            "Allow me. I suggest that you head towards Nibelheim. Try and settle on the ledge within the enclosed valley nearby; it's bound to be a little tricky, but the Highwind will handle the water well enough." Bahamut had no need for the intercom, for his voice seemed to carry readily no matter where he stood within the cockpit.

            Vincent had decided to forego his hiding place within the darkened conference room and instead sat by Dusk's side within her small room. He didn't pick up on Bahamut's transmission, being too far away—mentally and physically—for even the dragon's voice to reach his ears. The scratches Dusk had received from falling from the broken opening in the Lifestream-filled tank had been minimal, and most of the blood that had been covering her when she found them was Rei's and not her own. Neither Vincent nor Dusk moved, and a casual observer—if one could even manage to enter the locked room—would have supposed both to be dead or unconscious.

            Vincent was listening to the steady thrum of the engines beneath his feet with half an ear; the rest of his attention focused on Dusk. The white-glazed materia charm hanging around her neck was still there and shone brightly within the light of the lamp Vincent had brought in. He glanced at it for a brief moment, and then lost interest and returned his eyes to Dusk's face.

            His patient vigil was rewarded, and Dusk slowly roused from her sleep to find a familiar ceiling hanging above her head. _Strange…I don't remember coming back here… _

            "You haven't been asleep for very long. Do you need more rest?" Vincent asked softly. Dusk sat up in surprise and stared at Vincent, blinking rapidly.

            "Who's piloting the Highwind?" she asked finally, feeling the floor of the room vibrate pleasantly from running engines. 

            "One of Cid's other crew, I would expect." 

            Dusk nodded. "Where are we headed to?"

            "Aren't you tired? Shouldn't you be going back to sleep?" Vincent asked.

            "Shouldn't you?" Dusk returned calmly. "You have been getting precious little sleep just as well, big brother, and you know it."

            Vincent paused, and then gave a short laugh that held a strange mix of sad nostalgia and harsh bitterness. "It's been a while since I've last heard you call me that."

            "Hasn't it been." Dusk tilted her head to the side as she sat up. 

            There was a pause between the two before Vincent spoke again. "What made you think about that…interpretation of weapons back there?"

            Dusk shrugged. "Some of it was the Captain, but it was only because his words about the Masamune brought back that dream I was having when I was asleep. A voice was talking to me while I was submerged in the Lifestream. It sounded…so sad while it was speaking that I probably would have cried if I had been awake. It was telling me about those perspectives on weapons, and then it began talking about Zeno as if it knew him really well. When it started talking about Zeno, though…its voice got even sadder if that was possible, and it seemed to be weeping from pain and sorrow. That was when someone punched a hole in the glass and I woke up."

            "This voice…did it sound anything like the one in the North Crater?"

            "You mean when Jenova spoke to us? No, it didn't." Dusk shook her head. "It wasn't her; I'm positive of it. This person's voice was the exact opposite of Jenova's, and, in a way…it sort of reminded me of Bahamut's voice. As if it knew things that I couldn't even hope to guess at, and had seen much more than anyone alive right now." 

            _The…Planet? Could it be? But why would it speak to Dusk so easily when it can't even reach Bahamut?_

_            The Highwind abruptly shuddered throughout its entire frame and the floor dropped slightly from beneath Vincent and Dusk. They both fell over onto the ground in a loss of balance and a gain of surprise, the metal floor beneath their hands resuming its slow vibration before stopping entirely. Vincent glanced sharply up at Dusk, who met his eyes quickly with slight confusion evident from within the crimson orbs._

            Vincent was out Dusk's door in a matter of moments, Dusk following him as quickly as she could while she tugged on her discarded outer jacket and grabbed her long sword, sliding it into its place at her side. They both burst into the cockpit, hands over their weapons, to find the huge window in front of the pilot's seat to be staring at a rocky, green-gray wall that seemed oddly familiar to Vincent. Cid was sitting on the ground, leaning against a sub-pilot's control panel with a hand clutched dramatically to his chest as if he had just suffered a massive heart failure. Bahamut leaned over him, a slightly amused expression on his hooded face. Cloud and Yuffie looked as if they were about to throw up on each other, one being as green in the face as the other, while Tifa helped them put their heads between their legs and told them to breathe as deeply and as steadily as they could. Shar, having the steady advantage of four legs, stood solidly nearby while Aeris used the lion-like creature's muscular body to lever herself back into an upright position. Vincent glanced back up at the main pilot seat and noted the brown-haired head of the substitute pilot leaning awkwardly to the side in the seat. Judging from the limpness and lack of movement, the young man had probably passed out. The rest of the staff, as he checked the rest of the room, was unhurt but recovering much in the same way as every other member of the staff, terrified looks wreathing face after face while they slowly pulled themselves and each other to their feet.

            "Tricky landing, I take it?" Vincent asked dryly, dropping the grip on his gun.

            Cid cracked open one eye and slowly released the bit of the chest area of his shirt that had been clutched in one hand. "Quite right. I think Dusk probably should have piloted that last bit and saved my heart from dropping dead at least twenty years too early."

            "The pilot that was taking Dusk's place was just a tad bit too inexperienced," Bahamut added, nodding towards the subject who remained in his unconscious pose. "I don't think that the Highwind took any major damage, but in any case, we did reach our destination."

            Vincent finally recognized the grain of the stone in front of the Highwind's nose; he should have, for he had been staring at it everyday for the past five years of his life. "Lucrecia's grotto?" he asked. "Didn't you try to speak with the Planet once already?"

            "I'm not going to try again," Bahamut replied calmly. "The last attempt nearly placed me in Jenova's grasp, and quite frankly, I don't want that happening just yet. Over here, though, is a good place for specific types of communication. I need to get this done before we can start moving again."

            " 'We'? So you've decided to travel with us again, or what?" Cloud asked, raising his head slightly from its previously lowered position.

            "Yes. Especially since Sephiroth is now actively moving about the Planet, for with him always comes part of Jenova. I don't want any of you dying prematurely."

            "How touching," Yuffie muttered under her breath before raising her voice's volume and directing it towards the group in general. "So, are we gonna get off of this airship and get onto steady ground, are should I start barfing again?"

*                       *                       *

            Bahamut crossed his legs and stared intently into the small body of water before him. It was indeed small as lakes went, but its deceptive size hid the depths that reached to the ocean floor. He drew one portion of his hood across the side of his face, shielding his eyes from the glare of the setting sun that was slowly settling itself into the horizon, its upper half peeping into the valley formed by a splitting mountain range. 

            Cloud and the others, including the crewmembers of the Highwind, were inside of the rather spacious grotto Vincent and Aeris had lived together in for four years. Bahamut remained outside because (although he was too polite to say this out loud), despite the rush of water outside that washed away most scents with its fresh clarity, his nose was too sensitive to handle the crowd of humans—some of which hadn't bathed for quite a while. 

            _Besides, it has been a while since I could sleep in peace, Bahamut thought. __Perhaps sleeping under the stars again will calm my mind._

_            The endless babble of the waterfall was interrupted by the sound of someone emerging from it and stepping towards him. Bahamut pricked his covered ears momentarily, identifying the tread of the person as belonging to a male. It was too heavy for the stalking-swift, silent footsteps of Vincent, but more easy and sure than Cid's limping gait. All of the male crew of the Highwind walked more or less the same because of their similar lives that centered around the Highwind and manning the airship, and this person was not one of them. _

            "What is it, Cloud?" he asked when the person had hesitantly stopped about two feet away from him. He turned his head and saw that his guess had been correct, for the man in question was standing before him, brushing droplets of water off of his arms.

            Cloud paused in his movements, cocking his head towards Bahamut. "How'd you know it was me?"

            "No one else in our party walks like you," Bahamut replied simply. "Anyone with a careful enough ear can tell who you are, especially since you're the only person here who has the true step of a fighter."

            "Oh." Cloud closed the distance between them and tentatively sat down beside Bahamut. Bahamut shifted his gaze once more to glance sideways at Cloud, studying the man's features more intently. Cloud had always had an angular, proud tilt to his face, but today his face seemed to have fallen out of that mode and into a slightly tired look that made Bahamut think of looking at a sleepy puppy. His glowing Mako eyes, when not the fatigued orbs that stared aimlessly over the small stretch of water before them, were as deep as the heart of a sapphire or a bottomless ocean, but their depth still did not suck in and trap the light as Sephiroth's did. Bahamut found himself comparing Cloud more and more to Sephiroth, but could not find much more similarities between the two. Cloud was much more emotional than Sephiroth, and his indifferent arrogance wavered from the stronghold of sentience within his heart—something that Sephiroth did not have. Physically, the two were also very different as well, except for the eyes. They both had the threatening look of a predator in them, but Sephiroth's more so than Cloud's. Cloud's piercing eyes held the look of a raptor eyeing up its prey below, but Sephiroth's staring eyes were those of an eagle striking.

            "Um, Bahamut…" Cloud finally said, interrupting Bahamut's scrutiny. "You…heard what Dusk said back there in the Headquarters, right?"

            "About weapons?" 

            "Yeah. Um, just what exactly did she mean by that?"

            Bahamut smiled from beneath his hood. "She meant just what she said. Weapons are no more as evil as the hand of the person who holds them, and weapons are no more as good as the view of the person at which the weapon is pointing. Everything has two sides, and only certain lights of those two sides can be clearly seen by people. Very rarely has there been anyone who can see both sides of the weapon and understand and accept them. Those people who can must be very careful, for more often they are hated by both sides.

            "This contrast between good and evil is portrayed everywhere, even in where I come from. I have always taught my siblings the importance of seeing both sides and not just the side that they want to see, but even then few have completely picked up on the concept. Ifrit is one of the more impossibly dense ones, and I know that Shiva understands it but is at a loss of how to apply it to herself. You see, those two are quite the mortal enemies—not just because they are two exact opposites of the Elements that they represent—fire and ice—but because they usually have two totally different views on how they see things."

            "Can you…try and teach me?" Cloud asked hesitantly. "I think…I think that it would help with how I see things right now. And right now, I'm just really confused."

            Bahamut reached up and firmly drew his hood away from his gray-tinted face, revealing his entire face in one of those rare moments. He smiled once more at Cloud, letting the approval travel through his gesture. "Well, you're the first mortal I've met in a while who's willing to try and see both sides of the mirror. The last 'student' I had was a long, long time ago…and she's long dead. She reminded me much of you in quite a few ways; you both think and act alike, anyway. 

            "What I always start with is the most simple comparison of natural opposites. This pair is fire and water, both with their virtues and downfalls. First, there is water. What are the characteristics of water, Cloud?" Bahamut leaned over and dipped his hand into the water before him, lifting a cupped hand full of clear water that slowly leaked out through the cracks in the dragon's fingers.

            "Uh…well, mortals, at least, can't live without it for very long, and its color is usually pretty clear unless it's been disturbed. Too much or too little water isn't good, because too much can cause a flood that can wipe things out while too little causes a drought. It can extinguish fire, too." Cloud furrowed his brow as he paused in his train of thought, trying to dredge up more information.

            "That's all good and true," Bahamut congratulated Cloud. "But water has more characteristics than that. For one, it's true that, while water can be clear…just look at the color of all that water below you, Cloud." 

            Cloud craned his neck downwards. "It's blue."

            "Look." Bahamut lifted another handful of ocean water up, where it once more took on a clear tone. He tilted his hand and let the water slide back into its place of origin inside of the deep blue ocean water. "See what water can do? By itself, water can be so clear, but when it joins, it can turn into something different. It also can take on two other forms besides this liquid one; the solid form, ice, and a gas form."

            "Gas?" Cloud looked up at Bahamut curiously. "But you can't see it, can you?"

            "No, you can't, but it's still there. You're breathing that very gas in and out as we speak. So you see, water is a very tricky substance as well, besides its apparent clarity. That clarity is what gives water its power to soothe and calm, for it has the power to show people what they want to see and see things that other elements can't. Water is also deceptive as well as helpful, however. Look at your image in still water, and it will show you as you are. But if that still water is ever disturbed, your reflection is distorted and pulled out of proportion, showing you things that don't even exist about you. This is the deception of water." 

            Cloud leaned over once more curiously, finding another one of him staring back at him with the same tiredness that he felt in every inch of his body. Abruptly, Bahamut slapped his hand on the surface of the still water, and Cloud's reflection went in all directions, disappearing for a moment before rejoining into a wavering parody of what he had seen in the water before. It reluctantly pulled itself back into the firm reflection from before, but the image of the grotesque disassembling of his reflection's body remained in the back of Cloud's mind.

            "You see?" Bahamut asked as Cloud nodded slowly. "Water may seem inviting at first, but its calm tranquility can just as easily turn into an angry tidal wave, or its warm waters into an ocean of freezing cold. However, water is slower and more patient than some of the other elements and had a tendency to be more useful as well.

            "Fire is what is named as the counter of water, as they both have the power to affect and hurt each other. A small, controlled fire cannot do much harm other than to give off a welcoming glow of heat to warm those who come to its side. But fire is quite fickle and, unlike water, is extremely quick to change into a hungry, greedy inferno. Fire is angered quite easily and is quick to actions and hardly ever thinks of consequences. It demands fuel to nourish itself and keep itself alive, yet while fire depends on its source of food, it burns with a fierce and determined light—the will of someone who wants to live.  Fire, though, is not as clear as water, and cannot see things in the same way that water can. Fire is very one-sided, for its own smoke obscures its sight. It's stubborn and angry at times and must be handled with extreme care." Bahamut raised his hand, letting out a sibilant hiss that was immediately followed by a burst of flame appearing in the palm of his hand. The flecks of water that remained there sizzled and evaporated in the presence of the fire. 

            "When strong enough and at a large enough advantage, fire can even defeat water, but more often it is water that has power over fire. But water is not always as strong and angry as fire is, and has a tendency to be more docile. Yet when water is angered, it can overcome and destroy everything in its path." Bahamut closed his hand with the flame nestled in it, neatly cutting off the fire's supply of oxygen and extinguishing it as readily as a splash of water would. "There is another lesson to this, and that is that the personalities of fire and water are everywhere, not only in those named elements. Specifically, however, fire and water balance each other out, and are the two different sides of the weapon. Sometimes fire is at the mercy of water, and sometimes it is the other way around, but both sides never see the right of the other side; just the wrong. That is the same with humans, and that is what Dusk was talking about." 

            "I…think I understand now," Cloud said slowly. "If I try hard enough, I can understand why Sephiroth is doing what he's doing, but…I can't bring myself to forgive him for his beliefs."

            "Dusk said something else, didn't she?" Bahamut asked, brushing his hand against the ground he sat on. He paused, glancing sideways at Cloud.

            Cloud hesitated and then started when he realized that Bahamut was waiting for an answer from him. "Uh, yeah. I wasn't really listening, though."

            "She said that while Sephiroth is evil, the child inside of him is the weapon that Jenova is wielding. Understand?"

            "Sort of like an onion?" Cloud guessed. "Masamune is Sephiroth's weapon, but Sephiroth is Jenova's weapon. It's just layers inside of layers."

            "More specifically, Zeno is Jenova's weapon," Bahamut corrected. "Zeno, and not Sephiroth." His eyes narrowed, staring at a point within his mind's eye. "Sephiroth himself may go along with that onion analogy of yours. On the outside, he's Sephiroth, but on the inside…there's something there that the original Sephiroth did not have."

            "Like what?"

            "I have another speculation, Cloud. The Planet brought Aeris back to counter the rebirth of Zeno, but although they were both 'born' around the same time…she is notably younger than he is. I was wondering why that was so for a while now—I think it may be because of changes on the inside of them that their creators either went through with or chose to ignore. You've lived with Zeno ever since he was born, Cloud. Have you noticed anything strange about him?"

            "Uh…he's way too smart intellectually, he reads too much, he's too calm, he's deadpan, he's strong, he's fast, he's a damn good fighter, he has no interest in girls despite his age…" Cloud ticked off each point on his fingers.

            "Now compare him to the Aeris that's alive right now."

            Mystified, Cloud closed his eyes and tried to remember everything he could about the present day Aeris without getting her mixed up with the endearing flower girl from the past. Too often, he caught himself about to name something that the Aeris from the past had but the Aeris now didn't, and more than once he found himself naming something that both girls shared. "Well, she's more naïve, she's not as good of a fighter, she's fascinated with the littlest things, she has a wider range of emotions—"

            "There! You see?" Bahamut interrupted triumphantly. "The Planet did something that Jenova didn't do, and that was to grow Aeris' emotions at the normal pace of her age maturity. Forgetting the fact that she was born four years ago, Aeris is normal for her apparent age in terms of physical and emotional appearance. She looks, acts, talks, and thinks like a twenty-two-year-old, much as how she did in her previous life. Zeno is a different matter, however. Now matter which way you look at him, even if he appears to be even older than you are, he has the emotional capability of a four-year-old. Jenova grew only his intellect with his body, making him smarter, stronger, and faster—but completely under her control. You see, human four-year-olds are at the age where they still follow their mothers around willingly and do whatever they are told to do. This was the type of manipulative control that Jenova wanted over her 'son'. Because of her 'mother-son' bond with Zeno, once she had his mind in her grasp he was hers for the taking. This wasn't necessarily true for the Sephiroth of before; I have no doubt in my mind that he was on the brink of frustration with humans when he found Jenova, and he was very much in control of his emotions. This time, Zeno is truly the weapon in Jenova's hands—a thinking, living, breathing weapon." Bahamut looked closely at Cloud with his crimson eyes, the livid expression that had grown within the orbs throughout the length of his speech giving way to a soft, regretful look of gentility that surprised Cloud. "And much loved by the ones he is being ordered to hurt the most, I suspect."

            Cloud jerked his head away from Bahamut's eyes, keeping a restraining mental grip on the tears of frustration and sorrow that were threatening to angrily flow from his eyes. "He is Sephiroth," he growled in a cutting, harsh voice, his back stiffening. But Cloud couldn't keep that pose for long as he slouched down again, bowing his head and closing his overflowing eyes, willing the tears to dry themselves away. "Or…so I keep telling myself. Vincent said…that I would only be hurting myself if I kept referring to him as Zeno. It's so true that it hurts too much for me on the inside." He clenched a fist and pressed it against his beating heart, gritting his teeth as the knuckles of his hand bit into his chest. "Sometimes I think that if I just keep everything that I feel on the inside, like how I did before, then everything will be okay. But at night, I dream about being able to bring the real Zeno back home with us, even as I relive Aeris' death over and over again. I…don't want that to happen again, but…" His voice trailed off as his fist began to tremble uncontrollably, driving itself at his heart once more. "But…"

            "But you have every right to think that," Bahamut interrupted softly, placing a gentle, fatherly hand on Cloud's shoulder. "Cloud, you shouldn't keep your emotions on the inside of you like that. I've seen mortals do that before, and in the end when they've held those fears and worries inside of them for too long with no one to talk to, they always either end up destroying themselves or the people they care for the most. There are always people around you waiting to hear your side of the story—you just have to look for them first."

            "But how will I know when I've found the right person?" Cloud mumbled.

            "When your heart says so."

            The acrid smell of smoke abruptly ended the short silence between the man and the sub-human, biting through the inside of Cloud's nose with a series of painful nips. Cloud flung his head and shoulders back, sharp gaze following the trail of smoke that led past the mountain range behind their backs. He was on his feet in an instant, just behind Bahamut's quick rise as they both stared up the mountain face.

            "What in the world is going on…?" Bahamut muttered, eyes widening alarmingly as a fresh, thick burst of dark black smoke joined the first column.

            Cloud had grown up in this area, even venturing down into this very valley before his mother forbade him to do so anymore. He frowned and oriented himself, trying to recall what would lie beyond the western mountain range.

            _More of Mount Nibel…and…_

_            Cloud's head snapped straight up, his glowing sapphire eyes enlarging themselves with despair._

            "Nibelheim!"

*                       *                       *

            The moments that followed were in a complete blur from Cloud's point of view. His cry of shock and terror pierced even the liquid laugh of the waterfall, bringing Tifa, Aeris, and Vincent out at full throttle. By the time the trio had reached the place where Bahamut and Cloud and stood just seconds before, the two men were scrambling up the rocky side of the mountain, Bahamut just a few handholds behind Cloud.

            Cloud kept his eyes locked on the trail of smoke just ahead of him, ignoring the rocks that sliced into the palms of his gloves and drew thin lines of blood. He could too clearly recall the path of blood and its cause back in the Shinra Headquarters, and in his frightened mind's eye, the smoke column was all too quickly turning into that same trail of blood. He continued onwards, almost considering throwing his sword off of his back at one point, for it suddenly seemed too heavy and bulky for him to scale the side of the mountain as quickly as he wanted to. Cloud ground his teeth together, hands somehow finding handholds and booted feet scrabbling against the rocks that came loose and occasionally rained down upon the heads of his friends.

            All of this he ignored until he had reached the top of the mountain after what seemed like an eternity, hands bleeding through the tears in his gloves and congealing in the leather fingertips. His chest rose and fell with each labored gasp for air as his eyes settled upon the town before him, praying that what he had seen flashing in his mind wasn't true.

            A blast of unbearably hot air accompanying a flickering orange-red glow met Cloud's eyes. The hometown he had promised himself that he would return to someday was completely ablaze, burning so strongly and brightly that even from his vantage point he felt as if he had just entered the depths of Hell. Cloud heard Bahamut move beside him before Tifa climbed over the mountain, moving up to Cloud with a puzzled expression on her face.

            "Cloud? What's going—oh, God, no!"

            Tifa's startled exclamation brought Vincent quickly over the mountain, reaching down to help Aeris up. He turned his head and caught sight of the dancing flames, freezing for a moment before he continued helping Aeris. Once up, Aeris, too, saw the fire and could do no more than a token attempt at rising from her hands and knees.

            "Oh, no," she whispered. "Dad—the people…what about the people?"

            _What about the home I swore to protect? Cloud thought despairingly. __What about everything I grew up with? _

_            As if to mock him, while he watched, the hungry, greedy flames crept even over the stone set into the center of Nibelheim and burn into the wooden platform of the well that still stood there, a towering sentinel of gray. It burst as the flames touched the metal container perched upon the wood, spilling its precious collection of water onto the fire around it and extinguishing a mere portion before being completely consumed and evaporated. The same well he had the fondest memories of for his childhood—the well that had bravely continued standing even when Nibelheim was burned down the first time. And, most of all, the well that he and Tifa had made their promise to each other on that fateful night Cloud had decided to join Soldier._

            Tifa saw Cloud take a wavering step forward, one bleeding hand stretched out as if he were trying to stop the inferno engulfing their hometown with that one motion. She was also the only one who saw Cloud immediately fall into a run down the side of the mountain, arms and legs moving frantically to keep up with his downward motion. His long strides were marred by stumbles and the slide he took for half of the way down with boots and hands clutching the mountainside in an attempt to slow his momentum. Tifa threw herself after him with no second thought, ending up sliding most of the way and landing on her stomach at the base of the mountain. She looked up to see Cloud standing before her, now bleeding in more places than just his hands, staring mesmerized at the dancing flames that were destroying every moment of their lives as children. It was true that this Nibelheim was no more than a prop Shinra had set up to allay suspicion from the quiet town and that the "inhabitants" were no more than Shinra employees set up as Nibelheim natives. But Tifa's heart still ached as she watched her own house finally disappear completely beneath the blue-tinged flames that crackled with malicious glee.

            She was barely aware of the others sliding down beside her as she pulled herself to her feet, now just as transfixed by the sight as Cloud was. She, too, was scratched and bleeding from her reckless tumble down the mountain, but she ignored them with the same absentmindedness that Cloud expressed.

            _I…never got to go home…_

_            The fire mesmerized Vincent as well, but for a different reason. In the far back of the town was a huge mansion just beginning to collapse upon its foundations that were being eaten away by the fire. This was the mansion the former Turk had been shot and killed in, and then reconstructed and revived by his most hated enemy. He had lost thirty years of his life in a state of sleep and consciousness, meditating upon his sins and thinking up of every way he could possibly receive revenge upon Hojo. Vincent laughed softly in the back of his throat, a rasping, grim chuckle that no one caught—and luckily, for his laugh was no noise to be enjoyed by grief-stricken ears._

            _Finally, the nightmare is destroyed for good._

_            Only Aeris and Bahamut kept their eyes flicking left and right, watching and waiting for something to happen._

            The hairs on the back of Aeris' neck prickled instantly a moment before the tall, slender, black-clothed shape stepped calmly from the heart of the fire, cold emerald eyes fixed unwaveringly upon Cloud. He stopped a foot from the edge of the blaze, his pale skin for once given color by the rosy glow of the fire illuminating his form. In one hand was the Masamune, dripping with fresh blood just as it had been when the people of Reeve's company were slaughtered in cold blood.

            "Sephiroth," Cloud whispered in a hoarse voice.

            Sephiroth's long silver hair snaked about his head like living things in the heat waves of the inferno, obscuring his face for a mere instant. When they had settled down again, his stoic face from before had changed. His thin, pale lips stretched into a seemingly innocent smile while his eyes narrowed and sparkled from within with light intensified by his sinister glee. Cloud stared back, incredulity growing within his heart—disbelief that anyone would dare to smile while fresh blood stained his blade's edge and his hands. 

            Anger flushed through Cloud's mind, overtaking any apprehension or doubts that he had held within before. His right arm flung over his shoulder, hand scrabbling madly for his sword's hilt while he charged headlong at the man before him. Tifa's surprised shriek was overtaken and drowned out by the cry that forced its way out of Cloud's tightening throat, resting heavily against his tongue for a bare moment before prying his mouth open and freeing itself into the hot, thick air surrounding him. It was the angered roar that a taunted animal made, tempered by the grief and heartbreak Cloud had carried within him for so long. The words were incomprehensible and garbled together in his rage, but their meaning carried well enough through the tensing muscles in Cloud's arms as he brought his sword forward and the glow in his Mako eyes that overpowered even the inferno's light.

            Cloud's sight quickly narrowed down to his target, his heart becoming as cold and indifferent as a stone in the bottom of an ice-covered lake. He dug his boots into the ground and sprang forward, swinging the Ultima Weapon in a sideways arc whose strength and momentum no one could hope to evade, much less block successfully and still contain enough power to counter.

            Blood sprayed from the Masamune as it seemed to move of its own volition to stop the Ultima Weapon's path before it had even touched Sephiroth's targeted side. A shower of sparks accompanied the metallic clang of steel biting against steel as Cloud's extra momentum let his sword slide against Masamune's well-sharpened edge. Cloud was on one knee a moment after his sword met Sephiroth's, gritting his teeth and blinking in bewilderment as tremors shook his sword and arms. Sephiroth remained perfectly still and immobile, not in the least bit shaken by the tremendous contact between the two formidable weapons.

            Cloud recovered as quickly as he could, rolling away from the Masamune and springing to his feet, bringing his cleaver-sword around in a path aimed for Sephiroth's head. Instead of blocking, Sephiroth merely tilted his head away from the sword as its tip whistled through the air by his cheek, biting instead into the ground and not through his neck as Cloud had hoped.

            "Nice try," Sephiroth remarked in an icy voice. The skin in the cheek that the Ultima Weapon's tip had gone by abruptly split, creating the tiniest cut that leaked a drop of crimson red blood. He reached up and touched it, wiping the blood drop away with a casual flick of his finger and bringing the finger to his tongue to lick it clean of his own blood. "_Very nice try. But your moves are too predictable."_

            "Shut up," Cloud growled angrily, whipping his sword out of the furrow it had plowed through the earth. "I got first blood."

            "Only because I let you," Sephiroth returned without batting an eyelash. "Next time, first blood will be mine."

            "Next time, it will be to the death." 

            "So be it. And now, I am afraid, I must bid you farewell." Sephiroth raised Masamune in a mock salute to Cloud as his form began to fade and disappear from the plane. "Oh, and I would tend to those hands of yours, _Uncle," he added before he completely faded out. The stress he put on the last word bit harshly into Cloud's ears, all memories of the way Zeno had lovingly referred to him when he had still been a child gone with that one scathing word. "Otherwise, the next match won't last as long as I hope it will. Where would the fun be in that?"_

            "Where indeed," Cloud muttered as he watched Sephiroth's ghostly outline shimmer away. He collapsed to his hands and knees, all adrenaline that had powered him earlier suddenly gone and leaving him feeling decidedly drained. 

            "Cloud? Are you okay?" Tifa appeared beside him, touching him on the shoulder. "Cloud?"

            "I'm fine." Cloud waved Tifa away as he began to pull himself painfully to his feet.

            "Cloud, what's this?" Bahamut reached out and touched Cloud's nose bridge with one finger. When he pulled it away, the finger was clearly stained with fresh blood, the source from whence it came oozing even more blood in a trickle down both of Cloud's cheeks and dripping from his chin.

            "When did…" Cloud began in disbelief, staring at the stain on Bahamut's finger and swiping at his nose with the back of one hand.

            "Cloud, don't. I'll clean it for you later." Tifa pulled Cloud's arm down, staring intently at the wound. "It's not too deep, but it might get infected if you don't watch out."

            Cloud let out an animalistic growl that emitted from the back of his throat. "That's the least of my worries right now. And how the hell did he manage to get a swipe in on me?"

            "That one last 'salute' he gave you," Vincent said suddenly. "I believe that that was it. All he did before was block and dodge, and the only time he moved his blade anywhere near Cloud's face was when he 'saluted' him. That must have been when he got a hit in."

            "How? I didn't even see him touch Cloud," Tifa exclaimed, blinking in astonishment. 

            Bahamut shook his head. "He was proving that he really did let Cloud get that first hit on him. He could have easily decimated him even before Cloud made his first attack, but then again…" His voice changed, dripping with sarcasm and unchecked anger. "Where would the fun be for him in doing that?"

            "Is that him speaking or Jenova?" Cloud asked softly, pulling himself to his shaky legs. "He hates us now, even more than how much we loved Zeno. But is that hate his own or what Jenova instilled inside of him?"

            Bahamut regarded Cloud with crimson eyes suddenly gone tired and sad with age. "Weapons never hate on their own, Cloud. It's the wielder that affects the weapon, usually not the other way around."


	26. Intermezzo

Chapter Twenty-Six

Intermezzo

            "Hold still, Cloud. You're lucky the Highwind had a spare first-aid kit, you know," Tifa admonished, her scolding tone checked but still definitely there. "I might end up getting the antibacterial in your eyes if you keep twitching like that."

            "Damn it, it stings," Cloud complained, involuntarily jerking away again when Tifa's fingers holding the cotton swab descended on his nose again. "Ow!"

            "How come you can stand being stitched up or having broken limbs set with no anesthetic, but when it comes to being treated for a tiny scratch you're such a big baby?" Tifa shifted her voice and made it deeper in tone, imitating a not particularly bright warrior. "Me big, bad fighting machine! Me strong as bull!"

            "I do _not sound like that," Cloud retorted indignantly. "You know, I really don't think that's supposed to be used on open wounds."_

            "Oh, hush," Tifa chided. "Do you want it to get infected? Where would you be if you couldn't fight just because of a little scratch that gave you a fever?"

            Cloud resorted to muttering under his breath as Tifa continued treating him, concentrating on controlling his rather sensitive facial muscles so that they only twitched a little bit when the chemical came in contact with the wound. The "scratch", however, was not as tiny as Cloud believed it to be and Tifa said it was to reassure him. It was the length of Tifa's index finger and, although shallow, had bled rather profusely. The first step Tifa had taken was to compress the wound with a length of gauze, instructing Cloud to hold it firmly in place and switching the gauze once the previous one had soaked through until the wound had stopped bleeding. While he had done that, she had taken care of the scratches on his hands and bound both of them with neat wraps of white bandages. She had then quickly washed the disturbingly large amount of dried blood away from the face wound with fresh water from the Highwind before beginning with the disinfectant, which was where the real trouble with Cloud had begun.

            _He's going to be scarred for life there, Tifa thought as she capped the bottle of antibacterial and replaced it within the metal first-aid box. After searching for a minute, she found a lengthy bandage that would fit over Cloud's wound._

            "I am going to look very stupid with this thing on," Cloud commented as Tifa taped the bandage into place. "Can't you just leave it be?"

            Tifa shot him a look as she ripped off another piece of tape from the roll. "Your dignity isn't worth getting sick over an infection, Cloud. Once it's healed well enough, the bandage can come off so that your scratch can get a little air. Until then, this is just to protect it and to make sure that if it reopens, it'll keep the blood from getting into your eyes."

            Cloud muttered discontentedly under his breath and remained silent afterwards until Tifa had finished with the bandage. He watched with his glowing sapphire eyes as Tifa closed up the first-aid box, latching it shut with deft movements of her surprisingly slender hands.

            "Tifa, I think you should go back to Wutai for now."

            Tifa looked up at him with a sharp jerk of her head, brown eyes widening in surprise. "What?"

            "I mean it," Cloud insisted. "We're going to be facing things even more dangerous after this, and with Sephiroth popping up when we least expect him to…well, it's got me a bit worried. If he can draw blood on me when he isn't even touching me, then what do you think he'll be able to do to you?"

            "I can take care of myself," Tifa returned stiffly. "Don't worry about it."

            "It's not that I'm worried about you being able to take care of yourself as much as I'm worried about…" Cloud stopped. "Look, I just really think that you'd be better of if you went to somewhere safe."

            "As if I'm not safe right here? What about Aeris and Yuffie? How come you're not trying to send _them back?" _

            "Are you kidding me? I'm just a teensy bit afraid of Yuffie's sharp tongue, you know. If I tried to send her back, she'd be on my case for the rest of my life. And Aeris isn't my responsibility; she's Vincent's daughter, after all. It's really his decision whether or not she should be sent away. Even then, her revival means that she's probably going to play a rather large role in this. It might be better if she stayed."

            Tifa bristled at Cloud's seemingly thoughtless explanations. "That's not saying _why you think __I should go back and not anyone else."_

            Cloud sighed, looking as if Tifa's stubbornness and his newly acquired wound were both giving him the grandfather of all headaches. "Tifa, please. I'd be able to fight easier if I knew that you were somewhere safe."

            Tifa shook her head firmly. "Cloud, think about it. How do you know that Wutai is safe? Sephiroth was born and raised there in this life; he might return there to destroy it just because of this perverse kill-the-family thing that is running through his head now." She winced inwardly at her heartless comment, but doggedly continued speaking. "The safest place for any of us would be right here with the rest of the group. We have you, Vincent, and the King of the dragons all together in one spot, for crying out loud. Wutai's warriors wouldn't stand a chance against Sephiroth; none of them are up to par with even you. They're all mostly hunters and ninja right now, and even though you've been training most of them, they still don't have the fighting stamina you have. They won't be able to stand for even a minute against Sephiroth, and knowing their intense pride and sense of togetherness, they'd all fight to the death to protect Wutai."

            "You know, flattery isn't going to stop me from trying to keep you away from the fight," Cloud remarked dryly. 

            "It'll help, won't it?" Tifa smiled despite herself and the desperate sense inside of her that cried to her to stay as close to Cloud as she could. "We've been together for so much of this, Cloud. Let's keep it that way, okay?"

            "I still don't like it."

            "You know that I'd be in the front lines against Sephiroth if he did show up at Wutai. At least this way, you'll be able to protect me, if that's what you want to do."

            "Okay, okay, I got it. You can stay." Cloud snorted, disgruntled.

            "That's my big, bad fighting machine." Tifa wrapped her arms around Cloud's neck from behind him, laughing into his back. She raised her head to peer over Cloud's shoulder, trying to catch his eyes. "What brought this up, anyway?"

            Cloud rubbed the bandage that covered his wound in response, raising an eyebrow. "That. Tifa, I really don't want to see something like this happening to you again. I already stood by helplessly enough once while you—"

            "That was nine years ago, Cloud! I was fifteen, and stupid enough to try and stop someone who was beyond my capability to stop!" Tifa protested.

            "How do you know that you can't stop him this time, too?" Cloud asked sharply, but his expression softening in regret as soon as he had let those words out of his mouth. "Tifa, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. But Sephiroth's stronger than he ever was before, and the thought of you hurt and dying again…I hurt just as much as you did when Sephiroth almost killed you nine years ago, and…I…" 

            Tifa hugged Cloud tighter, her voice muffled as she buried her face into his shoulder once more. "It hurts me when it happens to you, too, Cloud. I…I don't want to see you getting hurt, either."

            "Hey, hey. Don't worry. When the time comes, Sephiroth isn't going to be able to lay even a finger on me." Cloud felt the pressure on his shoulder intensify as Tifa pressed herself closer to him.

            "He…he didn't even touch you _this_ time, dummy." Her voice trembled as if she were going to burst out in tears any minute now.

            "Ouch! Man, I'm glad the rest of the guys are inside. Hey, are you okay, Tifa? Is it getting too cold out here? Maybe we should go back in now." Cloud craned his neck over his shoulder, the only thing visible being Tifa's bowed head. "You're shaking."

            Tifa turned her face upwards, staring past Cloud's concerned eyes and into the deep ebony of the night sky. "Do you remember when we were kids…and we used to go stargazing on the well in Nibelheim?"

            "Yeah." Cloud could also remember that same well falling to the flames of Sephiroth.

            "The same stars that were there that night…you made your promise to me…are here right now. The exact same ones." Tifa laughed softly. "I remember everything that happened that night; I could never forget, for some reason. I wonder…was your promise…that important to me?"

            Cloud remained silent, recalling everything that happened that night, and especially the young Tifa his childhood had revolved around. Despite her young age, Tifa had already begun showing promising signs of turning into the beauty of today, and even more so then because of the gentle starlight that had illuminated the two of them and gave her a more mature appearance.

            _Or maybe it was just because that night was the first time I had Tifa all to myself without any of her friends hanging around. Or it might have been…just because…she's Tifa._

            "When I'm in trouble, my hero will come to save me, won't he? He always did, he always does, and he probably will forever, right?" Tifa sniffled, making Cloud jerk his head around for as far as it would go. "…Right…?"

            There were tears in her eyes, just as distinct as the silver stars implanted in the black sky overhead. She kept staring up at those stars, disregarding the tears that were suddenly falling down her cheeks and losing themselves in the soil beneath their crouched figures. 

            Cloud reached around and wiped a tear away from Tifa's face with one bandage-wrapped finger, surprising her eyes back to his. "Tifa, I may have been no more than a boy when I made that promise, but I meant it. I'll always be there to protect you, no matter what." He placed a hand on Tifa's arms that were still embracing his neck and pulled her forward so that his mouth met with her ear. "I promise."

            Tifa smiled and turned her head, kissing Cloud on the cheek while tears fell unchecked from her eyes. "Thank you…Cloud…"

            _Thank you so, so much._

*                       *                       *

            Shar found a kindred spirit inside of Bahamut. Despite being barely considered a teenager within her species, she was as curious as an apt pupil could be and as quick intelligently as a teacher could wish a student. The pair sat near the back of the cave, Bahamut leaning against Shar's warm side with her curled halfway around his body. There was no fire tonight, for its presence would have probably disturbed Cloud and Tifa beyond reasoning, given the circumstances under which their hometown was destroyed. Bahamut instead discreetly lit the dark corners of the grotto with his little dragon-fire lights that were wrapped within a thin, but permeable membrane. 

            "Do you know Nanaki well, Elder?" Shar asked. At a loss of how to refer to Bahamut respectfully, she instead bestowed him with the position of "Elder"—the title the oldest, wisest, and most knowledgeable people within her specie's tribes were given. After a while, Bahamut had given up trying to stop her from calling him that, although he did claim that it made him feel too old. 

            "Not I. You might ask Tifa, Cloud, or Yuffie, though; they traveled with him before."

             "I think I shall, Elder. Where are we going tomorrow?"

            "Hopefully, Tifa and Cloud will be all right by then. We'll be going to Cosmo Canyon to speak to Nanaki and the Elders of his tribe."

            "He has a tribe? I thought he was the last one."

            "He is the last one of his kind within his tribe, yes. However, he created a tribe with the humans that he protects there. The Elders are human, but dedicate themselves to studying the Planet just as much as your kind's Elders did."

            "Do you think they will know what to do?"

            "Perhaps. It might give me more ideas if I get a fresher view on what's happening. The instruments that they use aren't necessarily modern, but they are sensitive enough to be able to pick up the tremors of the Planet's cries, even if they are being blocked by Jenova."

            "We should all probably be getting some sleep now. But…where's Cloud and Tifa?" Shar glanced around the grotto. Aeris and Yuffie both had fallen asleep already, curled into corners with Vincent nodding off nearby both of them while Dusk, who had decided to stay in the cave, slept with her head on his shoulder. Cid was quietly smoking nearby the waterfall where the pungent cigarette smell would be washed away by the water and carried out into the open. The rest of the crew of the Highwind had opted to stay aboard the airship in order to guard it and also just because there was not enough room within the grotto to house all of them comfortably. Of Tifa and Cloud, however, there was no sign.

            Cid noticed Bahamut and Shar looking around and jerked his head towards the outside that was hidden by the waterfall. "I don't know what they're doing out there, but I'm not sure if I want to know."

            Bahamut nodded slowly. "I see. Well, it would probably be best not to disturb them. Get some sleep, Cid; no one will walk in on us without my knowledge. I will stay awake while the rest of you rest." 

            "Okay, then." Cid ground the butt of his cigarette into the ground and considerately placed it in his pocket rather than litter the floor of the grotto with his cigarettes. He paced towards his chosen corner and sat down, yawning and stretching. "G'night."

            Shar watched as Cid turned over and fell almost instantly asleep. "How does he do that?"

            "Do what?" Bahamut asked.

            "Fall asleep so quickly."

            "He's getting up there in human years, Shar. Although I'm not sure how long he'll last, what with the rate at which he keeps smoking those things."

            "Somebody should really tell him to stop."

            "I know that Tifa has, repeatedly. It's a habit for him, and it's hard to break. I don't really know how bad it is since I've personally never tried those things before, but I really don't think I would recommend trying it."

            Shar snorted. "Those coughs of his are enough to keep me from wanting to. Do you need to sleep, Elder?"

            Bahamut smiled. "No. But you do, I think."

            "I can stay up with you."

            "I don't think so, child." Bahamut reached over and placed a hand over Shar's eyes, forcing them closed and exerting a small amount of magical energy on her. "Sleep, Shar. You'll need it."

            When he removed his hand, Shar was deep in the sleep he had placed upon her. Bahamut smiled once more and crossed his arms over his chest, feeling Shar's sides rise and fall beneath his back.

            For once, everything was at peace and perfectly still.

            _But I wonder how long it's going to last…_


End file.
